


Do You Believe In Magic?

by Wally_Birb



Series: Smoak'd [8]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU, DCU (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Batman Has Communication Issues, Building The Justice League, F/M, Felicity Is A Badass, Kidnapping, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Recruitment, Same universe as Squandered, This is prolly gonna be an extended universe, and Connected, superfluous villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9127816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wally_Birb/pseuds/Wally_Birb
Summary: After a month of radio silence, Batman reappears.After an hour of radio silence, Felicity disappears.Kara is just Stressed Out™ that her new friends are being so weird.Zatanna loves it. The drama, the romance, the comedy. She's one second away from grabbing some popcorn and getting comfortable.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is in the same universe as Squandered and Connected. I'm going to put them in another series of their own soon. This one is going to be a few chapters long, but it's still going to be a short story. Just a few more _short_ chapters and then more oneshots.

“I think that I’ve found a new candidate for the Justice League.” Felicity announced as she waltzed into the meeting of the team leaders, interrupting Barry and Sara’s bickering about time travel. “And by the way, Oliver: never. Again.”

Oliver propped his elbow in the round table they were situated around and used his hand to cover his smirk. Barry looked between the two of them curiously. “What’d he tell you to do?”

“Does this have to do with-” Sara started before earning an amused nod from Oliver. “Ollie, how could you?”

“Have to do with what?” Barry asked again.

Felicity leveled her finger at Bruce--the only one there who was wearing his full vigilante regalia as he still refused to share his secret identity with Oliver, Barry, or Sara. (Kara already knew because of x-ray vision, but she kept her cards close to her chest.) Felicity was pretty sure by now he was mostly doing it because he knew it annoyed the other leaders and Batman was somehow the pettiest person she’d ever met. “Next time, you’re dealing with Constantine.”

Barry’s mouth turned into a small ‘o’ as Kara raised her eyebrows. “Who’s Constantine.”

“An ass-”

“He’s a magic user who helps out the Arrows a lot.” Bruce answered, talking over Felicity’s undoubtedly very scathing insult. “Magic in general makes her uncomfortable and Constantine likes to take advantage of that.”

“I resent that.” Felicity crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not uncomfortable around what you call ‘magic’.”

“Here we go again.” Sara leaned back in her chair, watching Felicity with a delighted expression.

Kara looked around at the snickers on everybody’s faces. “I’m lost.”

“It’s not magic, okay? It’s science that we just don’t understand yet.” Felicity started. “And mother fucking Constantine just gets on my nerves, okay? He’ll never say in five words what he could allude to in seventy.”

“Oh,” Kara nodded in understanding. “You’re one of those ‘woman of science doesn’t believe in magic’ people, huh?”

Barry snorted as Felicity narrowed her eyes at the newbie.

“Maybe we shouldn’t get started on this?” Oliver sighed. “We’ve heard this before too many times. What I really wanna know is who your new recruit is and why Batman wasn’t here at the last meeting.”

“Yeah, I wanna know that, too! The last time I skipped a meeting, you spent the first half hour of the next one berating me for it.” Sara complained, leaning forward on the table. “I was kinda trying to save the world!”

 

“You have a _time machine_ , I am genuinely baffled every time you’re late--which is constantly.” Felicity threw the file down on the table and flipped Sara off, not deigning to answer her about Bruce. “The new recruit candidate is Zatanna. Magician, if you check into that stuff.”

“We could use a few more magicians in the league.” Barry used his speed to grab the file on the table before anyone else could. “I’m getting tired of dealing with Constantine every time I have a mystical problem.”

“Sara, Kara, I was wondering if the two of you were free to go on a recruiting mission? I’ve got to go to a few board meetings this weekend and I don’t have time to fly out to New Jersey.” Felicity pulled out her tablet and started filling in their shared Google calendar.

Kara smiled excitedly. “Sounds fun! I love mystics!”

“How come the one time I finally get partnered up with Beautiful, it’s when I’m busy?” Sara whined, flopping her forehead down on the table. “I’ll figure it out, but it can’t take too long.”

“Isn’t Bats based in Gotham? Why can’t he take care of Zatanna?” Barry asked.

“Because Batman has no manners.” Felicity deadpanned without looking up.

Barry and Kara looked between Batman and Overwatch, both resolutely not looking at each other. They then looked at each other, both wanting to know but neither wanting to ask. It was when Kara was about to speak up that Oliver surprised both of them. “Are you two fighting or something?”

Bruce looked up and gave Oliver his most intimidating Bat Glare as Felicity did the same with her own unhappy look.

“We’re not fighting.” Felicity told Oliver with a heavy warning expression.

“You glare a lot for two people who aren’t fighting and who usually run this meeting together.” Sara observed, leaving back to look at Batman curiously. “What did you do?”

Bruce clenched his jaw and swallowed down a growl. “Is that all for this meeting? I don’t have time to sit around and gossip.”

Felicity frowned at him. “Don’t let us keep you. I only need to hammer out details with Kara and Sara. You can go.”

Batman blinked in surprise at her chastising--nearly as surprised as everyone else at the coldness in her tone. He quickly recovered, his usual frown coming back into place. He stood and pushed his chair back under the table. “If that’s all then.”

“Hey, come on. You’re back up for this. Sit down and we’ll make sure you’re aware of the mission.” Kara grimaced at the pair of them. “Just because you’re unhappy with each other doesn’t mean that you can skip out on your team duties.”

There was a potent surprised silence before Batman sat and Felicity started going over the mission. The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife, but it also kept Barry and Sara from joking around too much or holding up the meeting. It didn’t take them long to finish the briefing, and once Felicity made sure everyone understood the mission, they basically started to scatter.

Oliver and Barry zeta’d back to their cities and Sara left to find her team to make sure they weren’t cause too much trouble. Bruce had stayed back by falling into the shadows while Felicity bid everyone farewell and Kara went to go through some of the old files in the archive room.

“You can come out of the shadows, Bruce.” She called over to him as she sat at her workstation. “I know you’re there.”

“You always do,” Bruce pursed his lips before pulling off his cowl and looking at Felicity in the closest approximation to ‘pleadingly’ that Felicity would’ve thought he could muster up. “We should talk.”

“What about?”

Bruce let out an irritated sigh. “You kissed me.”

“And you disappeared for two months.” She turned in her chair and stood to face him, her poker face firmly in place. “I can take a hint.”

“That’s not--”

“No, Bruce. It’s fine, okay? I had been kidnapped and was about a centimeter away from a bullet to my brain when Barry ran in and rescued me--and he only knew where I was because you tricked me into wearing a GPS chip, which I appreciate, but will not wear again until you disable the tracker. Anyway, all of this is to say that I was hopped up on adrenaline. I was appreciative and scared and you were worried and there. I kissed you, but it was a mistake.”

Bruce clenched his jaw and forced himself to maintain eye contact with Felicity.

“You don’t owe me anything, Bruce. We were partners, not date mates or friends.” Felicity shrugged. “I just got a little confused. I apologize.”

Bruce nodded stiltedly. “You don’t need to apologize, I understand.”

Felicity offered him a fragile smile and moved to squeeze his elbow, but aborted the movement halfway through. “I need to go find Sara for a sparring match before she leaves. Do you mind e-mailing me whatever I need to know about Zatanna? Any secrets you can dig up in your investigation?”

Bruce nodded again, silent as she walked away from him. He stayed, motionless, until he heard Kara barely step into the room.

“That’s not really how you ask someone out, Bruce.” Kara had her arms crossed over her chest when Bruce turned to look at her.

“I wasn’t going to.”

Kar scoffed and shook her head. “You were going to give her the speech, weren’t you? That whole ‘my life is too dangerous to love anyone’ speech?”

Bruce bit the inside of his lip angrily.

“You two are idiots.” Kara spoke softly, but it echoed in the empty room. “If you keep pushing each other away, you realize that one day you really will be alone, right?”

They stared at each other in silence for a second before Bruce turned and started walking away. “I’m leaving. Let me know when you need help with Zatanna.”

Kara sighed and nodded. “Go be stubborn and brood in your cave. Not like I could use your help here anyway.”

*

It was Felicity who made the decision not to tell Bruce that she was subbing in for Sara on the mission to recruit Zatanna, and it was Felicity who peeled off from the mission because her gut was telling herself that something was off.

“All you need to do is talk to her.” Felicity assured Kara over the comm. “If you’re really that nervous, call in B, okay?” She murmured as she followed her target stealthily, hiding her comm by putting a cell phone to her ear. “I might be going dark soon, alright? Don’t freak out. I’m just investigating something.”

_“O, don’t go maverick, okay? We’re on a team for a reason.”_

“Come on, Kara.”

_“I wouldn’t say anything if you weren’t acting so off.”_

“I’m just- this is probably nothing.” Felicity let out a sigh at the worry in Kara’s voice. “I promise, I’m not letting my emotions get in the way of this. I just have a feeling that something’s off with this guy.”

_“Fine, fine. Go dark. I’ll check in with you again in an hour. If you don’t answer, I’m coming after you.”_

Felicity smiled, “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

*

Kara paced back and forth in Zatanna’s dressing room while the newly recruited league member lounged next to her, tapping on her phone. She had spent the last ten minutes trying to call Felicity but to no avail.

“You said you had Batman on your team, right?” Zatanna asked, raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Isn’t he a detective? He can find your friend. Just call him.”

“Now, the problem with that is that if this is nothing, Overwatch would be pissed that I called him.” Kara explained, feeling anxious despite the armor on her chest which normally kept her calm. “But if this is a problem...he’s the best one to call.”

Zatanna raised her eyebrows and motioned for Kara to get to it. Kara sighed and tapped her comm.

“This is Supergirl to Watchtower. I need to connect to Batman.”

_“Kara? What’s going on?” _Cisco asked and Kara cursed herself for forgetting that he was the one working tonight.__

__“I’m uh- I need to check in with Bats about some info he gave us about Zatanna.” Kara lied, thanking Rao that Cisco couldn’t see her face._ _

___“Right-o. I’ll get Bats on the line, then.”_ He accepted, causing Kara to sigh in relief. Though she knew that the next part of this call would be harder._ _

__Bruce’s rough voice was the next one to greet her with an ever so polite preamble of: _“What do you need?”__ _

__Bruce’s rough voice was apparently Kara’s kryptonite...outside of, you know, actual kryptonite. “Felicity disappeared and she isn’t answering her comms.” She blurted out._ _

__Zatanna face palmed._ _

___“I’ll be right there.”_ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets into some serious shit

“Where did you last see her?” Batman asked as he met up with Zatanna and Kara outside of the theater where Zatanna had performed her show.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Zatanna snarked, but was ignored as Kara stepped up. 

She brought out her Justice League card and brought up a holomap of Felicity’s last known location. “She warned that she was going dark, but she said that she had a feeling that something was wrong.”

“So you let her investigate alone?” He growled. “Why was she even on this mission?”

“Her other thing was canceled and she was itching for a fight because _someone_ ghosted her big time!” Kara shot back, her fist clenched around her card, nearly breaking it in half. “We can throw around blame all you want, but the point is that she’s- that she’s gone, okay?”

“Are you trying to blame this on me!?” Bruce took a step forward, trying to intimidate her.

“I will heat vision your face off if you try to intimidate me again! You’re the one who started this measuring contest!” Kara’s eyes flashed red as she took another step forward to show him that he didn’t scare her.

Zatanna leaned against one of the walls surrounding the alley they were meeting in, watching the two of them square off in amusement. “And this is getting us closer to finding her...how?”

 _“Kara! Can you hear me?”_ Felicity’s muffled voice came through their comms.

“Felicity!” Kara jumped away from Bruce and put her finger up to her comm. “Where are you? What’s going on?”

Bruce tapped at the computer in his suit’s arm and linked their comms together. “Overwatch, what the hell?”

 _“Heeeeey, Bats.”_ Felicity’s voice turned high as she played casual. _“What’s up? How are you doing?”_

“I called him in when you didn’t answer.” Kara explained without prompting.

 _“You’re uninvited to Friday night.”_ Felicity grumbled, ignoring Kara’s offended whine. _“Well, I needed someone good with computers anyway. Can you track me and give me my location?”_

“You’re headed towards Gotham on a backroad.” Bruce answered immediately.

Felicity paused, _“You already had my location, didn’t you?”_

Bruce didn’t answer. Zatanna snickered. “I’m loving this team already.”

_“That Zatanna?”_

“Yes, hello. Nice to meet you, Overwatch.”

_“Likewise. So you ended up joining the team?”_

“I did, yes. My life has been all too boring lately. Figured you guys might just spice it up.”

 _“How do you feel about going after some human traffickers?”_ Felicity asked, her voice lowering even more as the sound of an engine became louder in their ears.

Bruce growled in annoyance. “Overwatch! Answers!”

 _“God, you’re really fucking pissy today, aren’t you?”_ Felicity groused, making Zatanna laugh. _“Okay, long story short: I ran into Sportsmaster, watched him grab a girl off the street and load her onto a truck, so I pretended to be drunk and got the same treatment. The girl is still knocked out from whatever cocktail of drugs they gave us--probably the alcohol in her system.”_

“‘Gave us’? Felicity, did you only just wake up?” Kara asked, a worried look on her face.

 _“Yes, so you can imagine how Bat’s growling isn’t the first thing that I wanna hear with this hangover.”_ She mumbled irritably. Kara watched as concern and anxiety flashed over Bruce’s face and it was almost enough to make her sorry for the earlier shouting match.

Zatanna moved to stand with Bruce and Kara. “So, trip to Gotham?”

 _“Trail the van, don’t converge on it.”_ Overwatch ordered, her voice going hard as she gave the command. _“We need to figure out what’s been going on and if it’s linked to the missing girls’ files I’ve been finding.”_

“Why didn’t you tell me about those?” Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose unhappily. “I’ve been investigating the same thing.”

 _“When the hell was I supposed to tell you?”_ Felicity sounded tired. _“You went silent for-”_

Kara and Zatanna looked at each other in confusion as she abruptly stopped speaking. Bruce’s expression flashed panic. “Overwatch?”

*

Felicity laid her head against the unconscious woman’s shoulder, rearranging herself to mimic the way she’d been thrown into the van. Sportsmaster opened the back of the van and looked at the two of them with impish disgust. “Time to shine, honeys.”

He grabbed the other girl first, letting Felicity fall roughly onto the floor of the van. She curled up tighter and feigned coming to awareness. “Wha- who are you!? What’s happening!?” She started to scramble away, but allowed the drugs in her system to short circuit her movement.

Sportsmaster laughed as questions about her situation rang through her ear. “Come on, little girl. I get paid by delivery, not by hour.”

Felicity struggled against him weakly, but allowed him to take her as well as the first girl. They were carted into what looked like an abandoned prison with cells lining the walls. At the entrance, they were handed off to a guard who shackled them to each other as well as to six other women. Felicity was thrown into a cell with the first girl, who was only just starting to wake up.

“What’s happening?” She asked, startling up from her bed. “Where are we? Who are you!?”

“Calm down,” Felicity rushed over to her, her finger over her lips as she nodded towards the bars on their cell where a guard was walking by--signalling the other girl to keep quiet until the guard passed. Miraculously, the girl stayed quiet.

And then the guard passed as she began again. “What the fuck is going on!?”

“I’m not sure.” Felicity whispered to her. “But, my name is Felicity Smoak and I’m here to help.”

“Help!? You’re in here with me!” The girl hissed, tears collecting in her eyes.

“Yes, but I’ve been trained by White Canary and Batman.” Felicity pulled her comm out of her ear and showed it to the girl in front of her before putting it back in place. “I’m even communicating with Batman and Supergirl right now.”

“Supergirl?” She asked hopefully.

“Yeah, Supergirl.” Felicity smiled comfortingly at the woman. “She wants to know you name. If you say it to me, she’ll hear it.”

“I- I’m Alex.” She whispered. “Alex Jones.”

Felicity tilted her head to the side and listened to her comm for a beat before smiling at Alex. “Did you know that Alex is Supergirl’s sister’s name?”

Alex blinked in amazement before blushing. “I- I had no idea.”

“Look, Alex, I need to find out why we’re here.” Felicity told the scared girl. “I’m going to do some risky things but I promise that I will not let anyone hurt you.”

Alex looked Felicity in the eyes for a beat before nodding. Felicity nodded back and moved to stand, staring out the opening in the cell. “Batman? I need options.”

 _“What’s the situation?”_ Bruce asked, driving the batmobile to where Felicity’s comm was giving off her signal.

“Double cell, standard issue. The same as Arkham, less padding.”

 _“Picking the lock would be too obvious, put them on alert immediately.”_ Bruce explained, ignoring Kara’s mumbling as she flew above him and Zatanna’s knowing look from beside him. _“Are there any vents?”_

Felicity looked over the cell and found what she needed. “Yes, but this building is old. I don’t know if the ventilation is strong enough to hold my weight.”

 _“What weight?”_ Kara asked sarcastically.

 _“She has a point.”_ Bruce spoke up, a caustic smile on his face.

Felicity rolled her eyes and grabbed her lock pick set from her back pocket. She kneeled down in front of the vent and took the tiny phillips head screwdriver from her kit to open the vent. “How about we all just make fun of Felicity’s worries instead of thinking about them seriously? If I get stuck in this fucking vent, you fuckers are gonna have to find a can opener to peel me out of here.”

Zatanna and Alex laughed at the same time--which was slightly unnerving for someone who didn’t really mean to say that out loud.

 _“Just so you know, O, you totally didn’t say that out loud.”_ Kara snickered. 

Felicity flinched, her pounding head feeling worse at the crash of the vent. She looked over when Alex cried out in pain. “Yeah, I know. I have the same hangover.”

“It feels like my brain is trying to escape my skull.” Alex whined.

“I know.” Felicity assured Alex, simultaneously trying to comfort the girl and keep the extent of the condition from her partners. “You can look forward to that for the next few hours. Just lay down, take it easy.”

“You have to be feeling this same thing, right?” Alex asked as she laid down on her bunk.

Felicity nodded. “I am. But I have something to do right now and people like you relying on me.”

There was a pregnant pause as both Alex and Felicity’s team processed that information. _“Felicity-”_

“Hold on.” Felicity whispered as she crawled into the vent. She moved forward until she got to a fork in the ventilation. “Alright, Zatanna, left or right?”

_“How should I know?”_

“Just guess, girl. I don’t know either.”

_“Left?”_

“Alright.” Felicity crawled to the right and moved forward until she found a vent opening underneath her. She settled down to look into the scene below her:

Madam Rouge, Cheshire, Phobia, Roulette, and Sportsmaster stood gathered in an office. Sportsmaster was silently counting his money in one corner, Cheshire across from him in another corner, glaring at her father. Rouge and Roulette were discussing their next shipment when Phobia looked up at the vent, directly at Felicity.

“We have an eavesdropper.” Her quiet voice cut across the room.

Roulette looked up and lazily raised her eyebrow. “Cheshire?”

Cheshire sighed and jumped up to yank the vent cover off of the ceiling. The entire room watched as Felicity fell down from the ceiling. She looked around at the five villains and gave them a shaky smile.

“Hey, don’t mind me. Just...you know...dropping in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh my main knowledge of DC villains come from the cartoons because I cannot afford comics and my parents thought that they were witchcraft when I was a kid. (religious families, man. they're the worst.) so yeah, forgive me if the villains are OOC, but also they're meaningless so *shrug*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Bruce growled at Felicity’s weak greeting as he and Zatanna pulled up to Felicity’s location. He practically jumped out of the batmobile to run to the prison, Zatanna following him while Supergirl landed in front of him. The three of them were about to storm the entrance when a shriek from their comms startled each of them.

“We need to get in there! Supergirl!” Batman ordered. Kara nodded in understanding and blew the doors open with her heat vision. Zatanna spoke a backwards incantation and the guards that began to spew out of the opening were disarmed. “I’m going to find Overwatch, you take care of them.”

Kara flew into the air once more before dropping down to punch the ground hard enough to create a small earthquake. “We’ll call in reinforcements!”

Zatanna nodded, “Go!”

*

Felicity felt like she was going to be screaming for the rest of her life. Her head pounding, her throat itching, and her eyes overflowed with tears. She closed her eyes to keep Phobia’s illusion out of her mind, but it somehow only got more powerful--no longer subject to her own visual stimulation. She could hear her team in her ear but she could only see--

Everything was--

She screamed. She buried her fingers in her hair and fell to her knees.

_It’s not real, it’s not real!_

She was alone.

_It’s not real!_

She fell onto her side.

_It-_

_It’s not-_

_It couldn’t be-_

*

Bruce kicked down the door of every room he came across until he got close enough to her the screaming. He cursed internally and ran to the source of the noise, shouldering the door open. He clenched his jaw and threw down smoke bombs to cover himself enough to grab Felicity before leaving. He knew that he couldn’t face all five of the people gathered in that room, but he’d rather die than leave her there.

He started running back to the batmobile, cradling a now silent, but non responsive Felicity to his chest. He past Flash, Kid Flash, and Firestorm on his way to getting Felicity to safety.

Once she was in the batmobile, though, Bruce’s only focus was on getting her to the Batcave. To safety where Bruce could look after her.

*

When Felicity woke up, she was on a comfortable bed in an a men’s t-shirt that was big enough to be a dress on her, her headache somehow even worse, and her throat feeling like she’d just swallowed a swiss army knife. It took too long and too much energy for Felicity to open her eyes, but it was the feeling of a hand against her forehead that had her summoning the determination to do it.

“Alfred?” She blinked a few times, her eyelids heavy. 

“Don’t speak, Ms. Felicity.” Alfred’s disapproving tone shut her up quick. “I’m afraid your throat is torn up from the screaming.” Felicity nodded and moved to sit up, but Alfred stopped her. “You’re in the Batcave. Master Bruce is briefing the team over the debacle at the fake prison. One prisoner, Alex, has been asking for you rather vehemently, but understands that you need time to recover.”

Felicity sighed and opened her mouth to speak, but was met with a raised eyebrow from Alfred. She pursed her lips and mimed writing in the air. Alfred chuckled and grabbed the notepad he’d come downstairs with as well as a sharpie. Felicity smiled and took the offered goods. She uncapped the Sharpie with her teeth and kept the cap between her teeth while she wrote.

‘Did they get everyone?’

“Ms. Felicity, I do advise you to rest up now and think about the prison later.” Alfred frowned at her.

‘So they didn’t.’

Alfred huffed like a longsuffering parent. “Roulette was captured but was released, as it always goes with her. Cheshire and Rouge escaped en route to holding together. No one else got away and J’onn was able to counteract Phobia so she will not pose a threat.”

Felicity nodded in understanding.

“Now, you need your rest. Master Bruce has been adamant on that point.” Alfred gave her a serious look.

‘Water?’

Alfred raised both of his eyebrows at her, the picture of a parent who’d been arguing with their toddler about bedtime.

‘My throat hurts.’

No change.

‘:(‘

Felicity mirrored the pathic frowny face with her own pouty one. Alfred sighed in defeat and got up to leave. Felicity waited until he was out of sight to jump out of bed, ignoring her own sorry state to get to her laptop, which was on the desk in the far side of the room. Getting into the Watchtower system from her laptop was easy for the person who designed it. She accessed their files and mentally sent up a prayer of thanks to Winn for digitizing their old records.

She was halfway through the mission report from last night when Bruce cleared his throat from behind her. Felicity yelped as she turned around, her hand automatically coming up to massage her neck when the noise ripped through her throat painfully. Bruce was holding a glass of water in his hands as his stupid perfect face judged her as hard as it could.

Felicity’s smile was as guilty as it was charming, but Bruce’s stone face wasn’t moved.

“Alfred told me that you were resting.” Bruce’s tone was clear on its displeasure. Felicity started to speak, but Bruce beat her to it. “Don’t. Speak. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“I-”

“Drink.” He commanded her, shoving her glass into her hands. He waited until she’d taken a few sips to continue. “Though, if you are feeling better, I don’t have to postpone asking you what the hell you were thinking!?”

Felicity nearly choked on the water.

“Or maybe I should ask if you were thinking at all? Not only did you follow a suspicious character into a dark alley, but you specifically got yourself drugged and kidnapped by said suspicious character--who you knew to be a villain capable of going toe to toe with me--and then when over an hour and a half later you woke up with a hangover from the drug cocktail--a cocktail with components of which we still haven’t identified--you decided not only to gripe at your team who was trying to save your damn life, but go investigating _alone_!”

Felicity flailed with one hand, a disbelieving whine coming from her sore throat.

“Keep quiet, Felicity, you’ll hurt yourself.” Bruce pretended to warn her, but his narrowed eyes told Felicity he knew what he was doing to her--the accusations with no ability for defense.

Felicity frowned and help up her middle finger, jaw set.

Bruce raised his eyebrows.

“And you still find a way to curse at me.”

Felicity scoffed and rolled her eyes, her free hand holding her throat.

Bruce clenched his jaw and moved forward, his hands wrapping around her shoulders as he leaned down to look Felicity in the eye. “You could’ve died and I would’ve been haunted by the sound of your screaming so please, _please_ tell me what the actual fuck you were thinking go out there by yourself?”

“That I’m invincible and it was the perfect way to hurt you,” Felicity narrowed her eyes, her barely there, supremely hoarse words dripping with sarcasm. “I saw that something was wrong and I followed a lead. You would’ve done the same.”

“You’re not me.” He growled.

“I understand that you were worried, but you aren’t my father or my superior--”

“No, I’m just your partner.” He countered.

Felicity scoffed and stepped back, away from him. “You stopped being that when you stopped pretending to be friend for months.”

“I needed time to think!” Bruce started to raise his voice before catching himself and pinching the bridge of his nose. “No one drives me as insane as you do.”

Felicity gave Bruce a scathing look. “It takes you ten seconds to come up with contingencies for every world ending scenario I could ever think of, but two months to realize that you don’t want me?”

“ _You_ decided that!” Bruce finally broke, shouting at her.

Felicity stared up at him for a beat as Bruce looked away. She help up her pointer finger to have Bruce wait while she sip another gulp of water. “What do you mean?”

Bruce set his jaw and took a step away from Felicity. “Nothing.”

“No, tell me.” Felicity put down her glass and recovered the lost ground between the two of them.

“No.”

“God, you stubborn asshole!” Felicity hissed. “Fine, whatever, don’t tell me!” She moved over to her bedside table where her bag was with her clothes. “I’m going home.”

“Stay here, Alfred can take of you,” Bruce looked down at his feet, shoving his hands in the pockets of his dress pants.

Felicity looked at him for a moment, waiting for him to look back. When he refused to, she let out a hurt sigh. “No.”

Bruce let out a slow breath. “Felicity--”

“No.”

Bruce looked over at her as she walked into the ensuite with her clothes and slammed the door. “Felicity!”

She didn’t answer, but she did open the door to throw a towel at him. So he waited until she got out of the bathroom to try again.

“Come on--” He started, but stopped short when he saw her hurt expression. 

“No. You don’t get to pretend that you’re being reasonable after you dangle hope in front of me!” Felicity practically croaked. “You’re a detective, take another two months, figure your own shit out.”

Bruce made a frustrated sound. He moved forward and grabbed Felicity by her arm to make her look at him. “Don’t just shut me out!”

“Why? You shut me out.” Felicity threw back at him. “You don’t get to only be there for me during a crisis, Bruce. It’s all or nothing, and honestly, this is leaning far closer to nothing.”

“I don’t want ‘nothing’!” Bruce blurted out, pulling her closer. 

“Then what the hell _do_ you want!?” Felicity whispered, looking up at Bruce with a dare clear in her eyes.

Bruce stared down at her for a moment before forcing himself to look away. “I want you to be here and I want you to be okay.”

Felicity pursed her lips and yanked her arm out of Bruce’s hand. “We’ll work together on League business. I’ll be more than civil with you, and I will treat you as fairly as I treat Oliver. Sara or Kara will fill in as my partner--maybe even Zatanna--but just know that as of right now, I am not your problem.”

Bruce’s eye went wide as Felicity continued to grab her things. “That’s not-”

“That’s not what you want? Join the club!” Felicity shouted without thinking. She winced away and mouthed ‘ow’. “How fucking long did I scream last night?”

“On and off for seven hours.” Bruce answered, a guilty expression on his face.

Felicity swallowed and shook her head. “Stop looking at me like that. I’m not your problem anymore. I’ve done this whole song and dance before. Never again. You either want to be with me or you don’t.”

Bruce felt the anxiety in his chest growing. “I do!”

Felicity stopped short and turned to stare at Bruce before shaking her head. “No. We’re not doing this again.”

“Of course I want you, Felicity.” Bruce sighed. “But I can’t-”

“And that’s where this conversation ends.” Felicity zipped up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows together, but let her go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity is Done™

It was a stroke of luck that Felicity was able to find Jason and Tim in the living room just downstairs from the room she had been put in. She tried to clear her throat to get their attention, but gave up before getting too far. Instead, she settled for knocking on the frame of the door. Both teenagers looked up, initially surprised before looking at each other in understanding.

“Could one of you give me a ride home?” Felicity asked, massaging her neck as she did so that she could alleviate a certain amount of pain.

Jason and Tim looked at each other again before Jason gave Tim a sly grin, “You go check in with Ol’ Bats. I’ll give the damsel in distress a ride home.”

“Nope, not happening.” Dick surprised Felicity by coming in through the door behind her. She narrowed her eyes at him, but relaxed a bit. Don’t get her wrong, she loved and trusted Tim and Jason to always be good people, but Dick was just a bit better at reading her moods and knowing when not to push.

And, as she thought about the scene before hand with her and Bruce, she _definitely_ didn’t want to push.

“Agreed,” Tim nodded, an easy smile on his lips. “How about you give her a ride and we’ll team up on Bruce?”

Dick turned to Felicity, eyebrows high and easygoing smile faked. “That good with you?”

Felicity nodded gratefully and kept her eye rolling down to only twice--once when Dick insisted on holding her bag and once when he insisted on holding the front door open for her.

(“What can I say? I’m a gentleman.” His lips curved up into a smile that would’ve been more charming if it wasn’t Dick, who was more like the little brother Felicity had always wanted. She opened her mouth to very politely eviscerate his ‘gentleman’ theory when she was cut off. “Ah, no need to agree with me, Smoakie. I’ve been on the receiving end of Phobia’s fuckery and I know how fucked your throat is right now. Instead, I’ll speak _for_ you!”)

It took a little over half an hour to get Felicity to her apartment in the city, a car ride full of Dick’s disarming personality and endless chatter to distract her from her own heartbreak. It was a stroke of luck that she and Dick liked the same music, or she would’ve had half a mind to strangle him somewhere around ‘The Schuyler Sisters’ the way Sara threatened had threatened her.

Still, the tension was there. It was in her shoulders and the way she would look away when Dick would do something that reminded her of Bruce. It was in the way that Dick walked her up to her floor and leaned against her door to look down at her seriously.

“You know that I’m gonna have to ask, right?”

“I know,” Felicity smiled weakly, but her throat wasn’t hurting as bad so at least something was feeling better. “It’s just what you’d expect, though.”

Dick smiled sadly. “You love him, huh?”

“I tried not to.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way.”

Felicity huffed out a pathetic laugh. “Yeah, I’m...I’m figuring that out. Still, I just have...truly fantastic taste in men. Really, most people have to try hard to be this bad at something.”

Dick pursed his lips for a beat before pulling her into a quick hug. “I know there’s nothing I can say to make you feel any better, but I’m here for you, you know?”

Felicity pulled away from him and offered him a shaky smile before motioning for him to move so that she could open her door. “I know, Dick, and I appreciate it, but I just want to be alone right now.” She unlocked her door and pushed it open. Dick cursed and moved in front of Felicity defensively, but she pulled on the back of his shirt. “Dick! It’s okay!”

“Do you know who this is!?” He hissed at her incredulously.

“Of course she does, we’ve known each other for years.” Lena Luthor pinned Dick with a withering stare. “The question is who are you, Dick?”

“I’m--”

“Leaving.” Felicity stepped past him and threw her coat and bag next to the door. “He’s leaving. Now.” Dick let out a little whine from the back of his throat, but was silenced by Felicity’s harsh stare. “And he’s not going to tell anybody about this.”

“I can’t make that promise.” Dick raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You tell him, I tell Babs.” Felicity threatened.

Dick paled and nodded. He debated internally a bit before giving Felicity another hug. “I’ll see you at the next get together. Text me if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Felicity whispered. She and Lena waited in a heavy silence until Dick had left and closed the door behind him. Felicity then turned to look at Lena with apologetic eyes, staring at her childhood friend’s little sister’s stone cold face. “Lex told you.”

“That you’re the one building the League? No, I figured that one out myself.” Lena stepped forward and Felicity watched her face soften. “Felicity, I’m so sorry.”

Felicity blinked in surprise. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I knew when he was crossing the line, I just…” Lena shook her head. “You should know that I did not agree with him. I never did. You and I were always in agreement, do you remember? We even made him upset when you came to visit us that summer because--”

“He felt like we were ganging up on him.” Felicity finished for Lena, relief flooding through her. She moved into the kitchen, listening to the click of Lena’s heels behind her as she grabbed some tea. She nodded towards the cabinet with the mugs in it and Lena grabbed two for Felicity. “I’m sorry that you have to go through this. I know that you love Lex.”

Lena gave Felicity a touched smile and leaned against the counter while Felicity popped the lemon tea k-cups into her coffee maker and filled up the water. She crossed her arms and turned to look Lena in the eyes while they waited for the Keurig to be ready. “Thank you, Felicity. Not too many people have faith in me.”

“Kara does.” Felicity smiled genuinely at Lena’s expression--a mixture of both genuine and faked surprise. “I thought so. Are you two together?”

“Yes, but Kara doesn’t want to be exposed to the press too much. You know how it is.” Lena blushed slightly and looked away before looking back at Felicity fiercely. “It won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Lena, I’m bisexual.” Felicity lifted a single eyebrow. “I had a crush on _you_ for a while. Lex expressly forbade me from flirting with you.”

Lena blinked in surprise before a genuine smile spread across her face. “I knew there was a reason why he told me not to come out to you.”

“So, does Kara know that you know?” Felicity asked, being vague, but knowing that a genius like Lena could figure it out.

Lena nodded. “She told me a month ago. We haven’t been dating for a while, but she’s been wanting to tell me about League business and just...share all of her life. I swear I’ll never tell anyone.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Felicity mirrored her smile and turned to fill Lena’s mug first before replacing the k-cup and filling her own mug. “Taste it before you doctor it. It’s pretty sweet.”

Lena took a sip and scrunched up her nose. “Sugar?”

“Honey. It’s healthier.” Felicity answered, grabbing the bear shaped bottle. She gave herself a considerable amount before passing it off to Lena, who was still sporting her little pout. “I’m also only here when I’m in Gotham which is usually only when things go wrong. Honey is good when you’re sick or injured.”

“Speaking of,” Lena started as she poured in the honey. “What the hell is wrong with your voice?”

“Phobia. Screaming.” Felicity busied herself with grabbing a spoon for each of them.

Lena numbly took the spoon before setting her tea down and pulling Felicity into a fierce hug. “Are you okay?”

Felicity stood stiff for a second before melting into the younger woman’s arms and returning the embrace. “I feel like the old lady that swallowed a fly.”

“Perhaps you’ll die,” Lena joked weakly. “Come on, I’ll make you some soup and we can catch up.”

“You’re a blessing, Lena.” Felicity stood on her toes to kiss her on the forehead.

*

“You know, I always expected you and Lex to date.” Lena told Felicity over the potato soup. They had both changed into sweats, grabbed one Felicity’s giant fluffy blankets, and settled down on her couch to binge watch the Office. Lena’s sudden comment came very close to getting potato soup from Felicity’s mouth all over her nice, fuzzy blanket.

“How dare you, madam!” Felicity swallowed thickly and grabbed a napkin from her coffee table to wipe her mouth. “He was like a brother! I loved him, but never like- not like _that_!”

Lena laughed. “I know, I know. Lex told me the same thing. I don’t know, I guess I just always wanted to be your little sister.”

“Oh, honey.” Felicity put her soup down on the coffee table and pulled Lena into a crushing hug. “Don’t let my mother hear you say that, she’ll try to adopt you.”

“That’s not a deterrent,” Lena leaned into the hug, her voice muffled by Felicity’s shoulder.

“I hope you know how much I already view you as my little sister.” Felicity pulled away and nudged Lena’s chin up. “If you don’t mind having a big sister who is kinda lost right now.”

“I have no problems with that,” Lena assured Felicity. “That’s why I came out here, actually. Kara mentioned that there was an incident last night, but she also didn’t want to leave you alone with Batman in case her instinct about what was going on between you two was correct.”

Felicity pulled away and settled back into her seat. “There is nothing going on between me and Batman.”

Lena propped her elbow up on the back of the sofa and held her hand against the side of her head. “Is that the problem?”

Felicity groaned and hid her face behind her hands. “Yeah.”

“Tell me,” Lena pulled Felicity’s hands away.

“You’re lucky.” Felicity rolled her head to the side and started picking at her chipped nail polish. “You just happen to have picked the only emotionally mature superhero I know.”

Lena chuckled and blushed a little bit. “Kara is amazing, but she’s not without her faults.”

“Kara is the personification of puppies and sunshine.” Felicity rolled her eyes. “Batman is darkness and brooding and…”

“Oh wow, you have it bad.” Lena gave her a pitying look. “You started to smile just thinking about him.”

Felicity sighed heavily and allowed a small smile on her face. “It doesn’t matter. He made it clear that he doesn’t want to be with me.”

“Then he’s an idiot.” Lena rolled her eyes. “Want me to beat him up for you?” Felicity shook her head, but she was laughing so Lena counted it as a win. “The thing is, Felicity, if he doesn’t want to be with you, make sure he knows that you’re no longer an option. I have a friend, Vanessa, I can set you up on a date with her. Get a rebound and forget about him.”

Felicity smiled wryly and leaned her head against the back of the couch. “Lena, I don’t- I’m not looking for anything serious, not now.”

“Neither is she. She just wants some--”

“LENA!”

*

It wasn’t a surprise that Dick couldn’t keep his promise. Bruce was persuasive. It wasn’t long after Lena left and Felicity had started washing dishes that Bruce bursted through her door.

“That door better not be broken.” Felicity shouted as she put the last bowl on the drying rack. She rinsed off her hands at the same time Bruce ran into her kitchen. “I’ll kick your ass if you broke my door.”

“Luthor.” Bruce growled, looking around.

“The bad one is in jail, the good one just got picked up by her girlfriend and is on her way home,” Felicity flashed Bruce a look that was a dare to say anything about the distinction.

Bruce cursed under his breath. “Why did you tell Dick not to tell me?”

“Because we’re not partners anymore.” Felicity shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. She finally made eye contact with him and raised her eyebrows. “You need anything? A cup of sugar?”

Bruce let out a frustrated noise. “Stop saying that.”

“Stop saying what?”

“That we’re not partners!” He yelled. “We made this team together! I put in the time right next to you! I’ve been tracking down _Aquaman_ and assembling files on all of our misfit toys!”

“Ah! No! I’m the only who assembled most of our team!” Felicity yelled back.

“ _By sending a mass text!_ ” Bruce threw his hands into the air. “You called it a _gang_ and asked for handshake ideas!”

“Which no one got back to me on!”

Bruce shook his head and set his jaw. “You infuriate me, but this is my team, too. And you’ve been my partner since the start of it. We’re in this together, whether you like it or not.”

“Yeah? Where was this attitude last month?” Felicity shot back at him.

“I had to have time to think!” Bruce stepped forward.

Felicity scoffed and put her hands on her hips. “Oh please, you know damn well--”

“You’re not a battle, Felicity! I don’t have to strategize the best way to be around you! You aren’t someone that I can just make a quick decision because I can’t risk doing the wrong thing with you.”

“Let me give you some advice,” Felicity glared. “Doing nothing _was_ doing the wrong thing. Now get out, I need to do some work.”

“You should be resting.” Bruce told her.

“You should stop telling me what to do.” Felicity rolled her eyes and moved past Bruce. “You wanna stay? Stay. But you don’t get to control what I do. Lena made soup, it’s in the fridge if you want any.” She went to grab her coat. She’d showered after Lena had left and put on a pair of jeans and a nice, long sleeved sweater in preparation to go shopping for the date that she’d let Lena talk her into. 

“Where are you going?” Bruce asked her as he watched her shrug on her coat and slip into her flat, black boots. Who said fashion couldn’t be comfortable? 

Felicity looked over her shoulder and flipped her hair out from the coat collar before pulling it into a quick braid, tying it off at the end. “Well, if you really do need to know--which you don’t--and it really is your business--which it isn’t--I’m going shopping.”

“Shop- you remember what you did last night, right!? As in got kidnapped and faced off with five villains whose rap sheets are longer than my forearm!?” 

“Yes, and it’s a miracle that Xander was able to get me this much time off. Now, I have to go shopping because I won’t have any other time to do so this week.” Felicity explained as if he was being slow.

By the twitch in Bruce’s eyebrow, it was clear he picked up on the tone and didn’t appreciate it. “Why do you need to go shopping?”

“Because I have a _date_ , and you’re supposed to look _nice_ on one of those!” Felicity hissed, annoyed with his interrogation. Bruce blinked back at her in surprise.

“A...date?” Bruce asked before shaking his head. “Is that supposed to make me jealous? Get me to reconsider?”

“No, it’s to get me laid.” Felicity deadpanned. “Lock up when you leave.” She threw her extra key at Bruce and left the apartment without another word, silently raging at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao so I know this took a while for me to post, but I can explain
> 
> I disassociated SUPER HARD and I don't remember a lot of what happened between like two weeks ago and now
> 
> Yikes™


	5. Chapter 5

Zatanna let out a wolf whistle as Felicity made her way into the meeting room, her hair in loose curls around her glasses-free face. It was her date tonight, so she had let Thea do her makeup into something of a smokey eye to bring out the blue of her iris. The outfit that she’d bought--with Lena’s approval via text message--was a pair of black skinny jeans, a loose, red halter top with one of Thea’s gold and black statement necklaces, and a black blazer.

“Sorry for getting here late. Thea kept fussing over me.” Felicity apologized and took her seat at the table.

“Cutie, you come into every meeting looking like that and no one will ever care if you’re late.” Sara leaned forward with a smirk.

Kara had on an excited expression as she grinned at Felicity. “You look great! Vanessa is gonna love that.”

“Who’s Vanessa?” Barry asked.

“Lena’s friend from college.” Kara answered. “Lena has been trying to set her up forever! Not- not that there’s anything wrong with her, she’s just picky since her fianceé left her. But she liked your picture, and she’ll _love_ that.”

“She’ll love stripping her out of it!” Zatanna joked, earning an impressed ‘oh’ from Sara as the two women laughed uproariously. 

“Can we get down to business?” Oliver chuckled hoarsely. “As nice as you look, Felicity, that’s not why we’re here.”

“Thank you,” Felicity squeaked out from behind her hands, trying to hide her tomato red face. She cleared her throat and gathered herself before standing behind Zatanna’s chair. “Everybody, meet Zatanna, our newest member!”

“Sup, guys!” Zatanna leaned back in her chair and waved at the group.

Oliver and Barry both gave her smiles as Sara winked and Kara waved back. Bruce was silent throughout the entire exchange.

“Now, anyone who feels comfortable revealing their secret identity can at this time,” Felicity handed Zatanna her League card. “I’m Felicity Smoak, also known as Overwatch. Nice to officially meet you.”

“I’m Kara Danvers,” Kara smiled happily. “Supergirl.”

Barry took off his mask and gave her a friendly expression. “Barry Allen, Flash.”

“Sara Lance.” Sara winked and aimed a finger gun at Zatanna. “But you can call me anytime.”

Bruce and Oliver stayed silent.

“Alrighty. So it’s...Sara, Barry, Kara, and Felicity?” Zatanna pointed at each other of them as she said their names before earning encouraging nods.

“Good job! It took Kara three tries to get it right!” Barry congratulated her.

Kara rolled her eyes, blushing. “Kal still can’t remember Sara’s name, so at least I’m better than him.”

“That’s because Kal doesn’t come to meetings.” Felicity pointed out as she went through a file on her tablet and retook her seat. 

“I’m the leader of Team Super, thank you very much.” Kara pointed to herself.

“And, no one has submitted anything to docket. I’m going to assign some investigative work for some of us to do over the next month. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to reach out.” Felicity ordered them, sending out the files. She debated with herself over who to give the Sportsmaster case before sending it to Bruce, who seemed surprised when it appeared in his inbox. “Now, as we all know, things went south on the mission to recruit Zatanna. I’ve given Batman the case, but Kara and Sara, I want you two ready to help him with it.”

The group all nodded.

“Alright, everybody, let’s begin with our individual mission reports.”

*

“God, it felt like that took forever,” Sara complained while she, Felicity, and Kara all left the Hall together. Kara and Felicity mumbled agreements. “Kara, are you flying Felicity to her date?”

“Yeah,” Kara answered, swinging her hands back and forth. “Vanessa lives in Metropolis, so I’m dropping her off on my way home.”

Sara looked over Felicity. “You call Kal if you have any trouble, you hear me? He’s the closest to you and--”

Felicity held up her watch on her left wrist and opened the face to show the panic button in the shape of the coat of arms of the House of El. “I’m prepared for anything, thank you, Sara.”

Sara nodded in approval before pulling her into a farewell hug. “I’ll meet you for breakfast tomorrow to talk it over, alright? I know that lately things have been...weird for both of us, but I want deets.”

“Oh, can I come? Lena’s having brunch with Vanessa to do a deets exchange, so I’m free for the first time in a while.”

Felicity chuckled and raised an eyebrow at Sara. “You good with postponing until brunch?”

“I’m great with it.” Sara grinned and pushed Felicity towards Kara. “Now, go have fun. Get lucky. You deserve a nice fuck without strings attached for once.”

Felicity blushed and shook her head. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Text you the details tonight or in the morning.”

“Girl, wait until morning. I wanna see sex hair, you understand me? Sex. Hair.”

*

Vanessa was fun and cute and had shoulder freckles that made Felicity want to play connect the dots with her tongue. Vanessa snorted when Felicity told her jokes, and did this...thing with her eyebrows that made Felicity feel like she needed repent just from watching it. Vanessa had deep brown eyes that watched Felicity unapologetically and dimples that refused not to be seen. Felicity was already freaking out the minute she saw the older woman.

They wined and dined.

They ordered two different dinners that they both shared and drank wine that was way too damn expensive. With the mood music turned more sultry, Vanessa even offered Felicity a dance. Gliding across the floor with a woman who looked like the Egyptian Goddess of Sex was more than enough to make Felicity flustered, but Vanessa’s dorky attitude nearly sealed the deal.

When Vanessa asked if Felicity wanted to go back to her place, she barely needed to think about it.

Vanessa was fun and cute and had shoulder freckles that Felicity kissed into the wee hours of the morning. But when Felicity jolted awake from a ghost of a memory, her hallucinations from Phobia racing through her mind, Vanessa didn’t understand. She tried, and Felicity figured one day...one day she might be able to, but…

Vanessa was pure in a way that Felicity loved and wanted to protect.

A great date and a one night stand, but Felicity’s PTSD was proof enough of what you got when you dragged an innocent into their world. Vanessa was too good for that.

So Felicity assured her that she was okay after the panic died down. She feigned work in the morning. She kissed Vanessa’s forehead and thanked her for the marvelous night, but she didn’t leave her number and she didn’t ask for another dance.

*

“Where is my sex hair!?” Sara demanded as Felicity approached their table, her hair tied up in a braided crown hairdo courtesy of the many hours of boredom between Felicity getting back to her hotel room and the scheduled time of brunch. There may or may not have been a YouTube binge or two.

On a completely unrelated note, Felicity now knew how to French braid...mostly. Like, 87% sure.

“Your sex hair got brushed over when I went back to my hotel room this morning and was bored, but-” Felicity pulled her phone out of her purse and queued up the selfie she’d taken just for Sara while settling in the chair across from her. “-never say I never did anything for you.”

Sara practically squealed and looked over the picture before looking from the phone to Felicity comparatively. “Felicity, did you, by chance, have to cover up a hickey?”

Felicity turned beet red as Kara arrived at the restaurant, greeted by Sara’s triumphant cooing.

“What did I miss?” Kara asked as she settled in the chair between the two of them at the circular table. Sara grinned and passed the phone to Kara, who gave Felicity a goofy, knowing grin. “You got your sex hair, Sara! Oh, and a few hickeys!”

“I’ll give you twenty bucks to not wear the cover up when we meet up with Bats to talk about the case.” Sara shot over at Felicity.

“Hell no.” Felicity raised her eyebrows. “That situation isn’t one I want to go and poke with a stick. No thank you.”

Kara sighed and handed Felicity her phone back. “Well, you got a rebound. How do you feel now?”

Felicity let out a harsh sigh and tapped her fingers over the black screen. She leaned back in her chair as Sara and Kara shared a worried glance. “Well, I still feel as shitty over B. I don’t know, it was fun when I was with her, but turns out that meaningless sex really is...meaningless.”

“What happened?” Kara asked gently, her sweet, gentle demeanor had an amazing effect on Felicity. All of her walls tumbled down like Kara had just punched them full force when in reality all she needed to do was puppy dog eyes.

“I had a nightmare while I was over there and I pinned her when she’d tried to wake me up,” Felicity admitted, shame filling her chest. “I woke up on top of her, one hand around her neck and the other ready to punch her. She tried to tell me that it was fine, that PTSD and everything was normal for someone who’d been through what I have. I don’t know, I just...I guess in time, she could understand and help me but I don’t want that for her. It was just supposed to be fun, you know? Some nice, aerobic sex with a super hot woman who actually likes me back, but instead I got a face full of…all of the reasons relationships with me don’t work out.”

Kara reached over and grasped Felicity’s hand in her own. “I’m sorry this didn’t work out the way you wanted it to.”

“Me too,” Felicity admitted shakily.

“These nightmares,” Sara murmured, steepling her fingers in front of her as she propped her elbows on the table like a damn heathen. “How long have they been happening?”

“God, ever since MIT,” Felicity admitted. “There were times when they got worse. After the earthquake, it got really bad and Digg was staying with me while his apartment was undergoing repairs. He ended up teaching me a few coping mechanisms. I was getting better, for the most part. Every time I was kidnapped, I still got them afterward. It was a complete non-issue with Ray because he slept too deeply to be woken up by me. With Oliver...well, there were a few times I woke up with him holding me too tightly for me to freak out before I knew where I was.”

“And with Vanessa, she was a light sleeper who got the work case scenario.” Sara reflected with a humorless smile. “I’m so sorry, Cutie. I had no clue.”

“I didn’t advertise them.”

“Yeah, but I should’ve known.” The assassin practically cut through the tension with her sharp words. “You’re my best friend and I was too caught up in my own shit to realize that you’d been through the same amount of shit.”

“Sara, I think all of us have our issues.” Kara placed a gentle hand on Sara’s shoulder. “Whether or not we share in our struggles is entirely our choice.”

Sara sighed and nodded. “Just so you know--both of you--if you need any help or a shoulder to cry on or an ear to bend, I’ll drop everything for you two.”

Wiping away a stray tear, Felicity shook her head. She leaned over the table and kissed Sara’s cheek. “Of course. And the same for me.”

“And me.”

The three blondes all gave each other watery smiles before deciding to continue on with their brunch. They kept the conversation to lighter topics after that--the kind of conversations you could actually have when you were surrounded by friendly faces.

And maybe, even though no one seemed to love her romantically, Felicity could make do with the sisterly love she felt flowing both to and from the women around her. Even if the League was the result of a partnership doomed to break Felicity’s break, maybe she could find a family that she could trust to help her put the pieces back together.

*

Meeting up with Bruce for an investigation was an act in self control and self hatred if Felicity was honest. Bruce had been right when he said that they’d been partners since the founding of the League. Felicity understood how rare it was for Bruce to genuinely trust people, so she agreed to work together, so long as it was just work. She’d force herself to be his partner.

She didn’t know if she could handle being his friend.

“So I guess the real question is,” Felicity started in the middle of their brainstorming session. “How can we make Roulette stand trial for her crimes instead of getting out so easily?”

Bruce had his lips pursed, watching Felicity pacing back and forth. “We need to find out who her friends are and how high up they are.”

“But that’s nearly impossible due to the lack of communication.” Felicity pointed out.

“How long have you been monitoring Roulette?”

Felicity pursed her lips and, with a few keystrokes, brought up the Log of Justice (read: her stalking Roulette schedule) to read out the numbers. “I was monitoring her passively for about three months before I was grabbed, and since then I’ve been more intense.”

“Who does she call when there’s a problem?” Bruce asked.

“That’s the thing, she doesn’t.” Felicity explained, pulling up a specific phone call. “She leaves a message in code--a different one every time, I’m looking for the pattern to see if it’s cyclical--at an encoded digital drop site with some very nasty viruses attached to it if it’s downloaded by the wrong IP address.”

“Did you try spoofing the--”

Felicity rolled her eyes, “Please, who do you think I am? I was able to use a dummy IP rerouted through a few organizations that Roulette has a known tie to, and access the digital drop to set up some monitoring but depending on how buff the security is on the other line, I might not be notified of the access in a timely enough manner to track it.”

Bruce nodded, mostly to himself, before shifting forward in his chair to look over the Roulette file, “What organizations?”

“The usual. ISIS, Boko Haram, Intergang, Lex Luthor’s old pissing pool, basically.” Felicity answered. “The problem is that Roulette has an insurance policy that I cannot, for the life of me, pin down.” 

“Maybe we just need to control the steps she goes through, then. Get her out in the light, in enough of a scandal that no one would touch her.”

Felicity shook her head. “She managed to come out of the _alien fighting ring_ unscathed because she was basically unknown to the general public. Maybe…”

Bruce raised his eyebrows as Felicity trailed off, an idea forming in her head.

“Maybe we should play sirens instead,” Felicity hummed, leaning back in her chair to cross her arms over her chest. “I don’t know anybody in the world that can resist fame--especially not someone with Roulette’s profile.”

“So if we draw her into the spotlight,” Bruce felt a small smirk growing on his face.

“Make her a hero of the people,” Felicity continued. “And then, when the time is right, we expose her. There’s nothing people pay attention to more than a fallen hero.”

Bruce scratched at his chin thoughtfully, “This will be tricky. Fame is a bitch to control.”

“Then it’s a good thing we have a few trusted reporters on our side.” Felicity grinned wickedly, standing to make a few calls to Iris, Kara, Clark, Lena, and Cat. “It’s about time Roulette got what’s coming to her.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at the vindictiveness. “You seem particularly...vicious today. Did your _date_ go south?”

“No, just realized the whole meaningless sex isn’t gonna make me feel better. Nailing this bitch to the wall? That’s gonna be more satisfying than any orgasm.” She shrugged and pulled out her phone, ready to poise the hell that would rain down.


	6. Chapter 6

Looking back on it, allowing Barry to do the scheduling for comm duty was asking for trouble. The idea was that, in rotating whoever’s in charge of the schedule, no one person has too much power over the mundane duty of digitizing files, checking the Watchtower systems as the ATOM and Cisco built them, and, of course, manning the comms for any active missions. The problem was Barry.

Dear, sweet, well intentioned Barry was going to get a junk punch the next time Felicity saw him. She knew what he wanted from this. She knew everyone on the team had figured out that something had gone down between Overwatch and Batman, but they had pretty much collectively decided to stay the fuck out of it. And that was something that Felicity, at least, appreciated.

But Barry had decided that, even though he wanted to stay out of it, it must be something that could be solved by making them talk. So the superhero equivalent of throwing them into a closet and locking it was throwing them into the Hall of Justice and making them spend four mind numbing hours staring at screens.

Together.

In complete silence.

Or rather, not _complete_ silence, but rather complete silence aside from the sounds of doing their jobs. 

Felicity and Bruce had both made it a point to be clear on the fact that even though they were the founders of the League, they didn’t expect any different treatment than anyone else. This meant that their Watchtower and comm monitoring duty was both required and without any solace of a shortened sentence.

Felicity sighed and leaned back in her chair, letting her eyes take a break from the screen in front of her. She popped all of her knuckles and neck before standing and pushing her chair in. “I’m gonna grab a snack, you need anything?”

Bruce hummed noncommittally, his eyes not leaving his own screens in front of him and Felicity hated that she knew what he meant.

She sighed again and grabbed her phone to distract herself on her walk to the cafeteria. Okay, so maybe she was slightly dependant on the technology, but it worked out in her favor when she saw the text from Sara asking how comm duty was going.

_To: Sass-assin (ง'̀-'́)ง( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_

_**ಠ_ಠ**  
8:46pm_

_To: *hacker voice* im in (⌐▨_▨)_

_**RIP (✿´ ꒳ ` )**  
8:48pm_

Felicity shook her head at the smug emoji, knowing that Sara was on the team of making Bruce get his head out of his ass. If Felicity was honest with herself, it was highly probable that Sara had planted the idea in Barry’s mind. To be safe, though, she sent the fastest man alive a middle finger emoji before stopping at the vending machine in the cafeteria. She grabbed herself a bag of chocolate chip cookies and a bag of the blandest trail mix they had for Bruce before moving onto drinks. One black coffee for Bruce--she knew he didn’t drink it black, but she was petty--and a nicely doctored mug of coffee for herself.

She shoved the snacks into the front pocket of her hoodie--one does not simply _dress up_ for _comm duty_ \--and kept both coffees in her hands as she walked back to the monitor room. She used her booty to nudge the door open after shouting at the camera loud enough for Bruce to realize that she needed him to unlock the door for her. Bruce looked between the two coffees before grabbing her beautiful, amazing, perfectly fixed mug and leaving the disgusting black sludge for her.

She narrowed her eyes at him and threw the bag of trail mix at his head while he was mid sip, earning a slight spill of coffee onto the Batman costume--because Bruce is so damn extra he won’t ever deign to dress down even when it’s just her.

“Oops,” She offered a sickeningly sweet smile and took her seat next to Bruce. God, she hoped the amount of sugar that she put in that mug offended his delicate, healthy sensibilities. Bruce rolled her eyes at the stunt and leaned forward to grab a packet of salt Barry had left the last time he ate takeout during his shift. He opened it and maintained eye contact while pouring it into the black coffee.

Felicity maintained as much eye contact as she was capable of as she chugged the entire mug.

Neither Felicity nor Bruce realized when the petty-off became a thing--it was probably Bruce’s fault, let’s be honest--but after a month of Felicity lowkey messing with Bruce, he’d finally snapped and taken the bait. He’d also learned something about Felicity:

She’s the pettiest person he’d ever met.

When the clock struck nine pm, they’d officially been on duty for one hour and the winner of the petty-off in that minute was Bruce as he’d thrown away Felicity’s last cookie.

*

In hour two, Felicity was winning was she used the microwave in the room to pop popcorn.

Well, not pop...burn.

*

Hour three became rapid fire.

Bruce e-mailed Felicity’s mother a ticket to Star with a little note about how Felicity’s mood recently has been worrying him and their other friends.

Felicity sent Bruce a screenshot of a text conversation she’d had with Alfred wherein he’d promised Felicity that she was his favorite.

Bruce signed Felicity up for a subscription to InfoWars.com.

Felicity started saying either “swag” or “savage” after everything that happened in the JLA groupchat.

Bruce kicked Felicity out of the groupchat.

Felicity created a new JLA groupchat with everyone except for Bruce entitled “SJWs but without that dick batman”.

Bruce started blaring heavy metal.

Felicity hacked Bruce’s e-mail and sent out an e-mail to Undercover Boss.

Bruce put a piece of tape over Felicity’s mouse optic while she went to the bathroom.

Felicity dismantled Bruce’s chair while keeping him locked out of the room.

By the end of their third hour, Felicity was still winning and they’d both sent Barry texts promising horrible ramifications for making them do this.

*

Halfway through hour four and Felicity’s newest pettiness (speaking in a terrible Irish accent after Bruce rearranged the apps on her phone) an alarm went off, bathing the otherwise white room in bright red light. Bruce grimaced and Felicity dropped the accent, rolling her chair over to the main keyboard to pin down where the alarm was coming from.

“Southeast corner. I’m bringing up cameras.” Felicity reported as Batman stood, ready to go meet the threat head on. “Looks like...whoever it is disabled the cameras. I’m coming with you.”

“No, stay in here.” Bruce ordered, opening up the door with his handprint.

“Splitting up it literally the last thing for us to do in this situation and we don’t have time to argue over it.” Felicity rolled her eyes and grabbed a tablet to wirelessly access the system. Bruce frowned at her, showing her that a) he was very unhappy and b) she was right.

When Bruce directed her to stay behind him, she didn’t argue. Instead, she fed him directions while keeping track of the intruder on her tablet--managing to use the defenses in the Hall to keep them away from sensitive information. By the time they managed to get to the intruder, Felicity had them trapped in the artifact room.

Felicity stopped in front of the security panel next to the room’s door and kneeled down to start fixing it. It looked like something had just...phased through it and wreaked havoc on the wiring. She gnawed on her bottom lip while rewiring the panel before letting out an exclamation of triumph when the security went back up online.

“Alright, let’s see who you are, you tech hater.” Felicity mumbled as she accessed the cameras in the room and found-- “No, that can’t be right.”

“What?” Bruce asked, ansty.

Felicity showed him the feed. “There’s nothing different in there.”

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows and looked over the different camera angles. “Blindspots?”

“None. Winn and I designed this security. We know the tricks.”

“Could it be a re--”

Felicity rolled her eyes and pointed at the security panel. “Yeah, I literally just rewired that thing. This is live foo-- oh fuck no.”

Bruce and Felicity both watched the screen as a shadow peeled off of the wall and sauntered on over to the vault door where they kept the most dangerous artifacts--all of which rendered inert by missing components. 

“I have a plan,” Bruce announced. “Which place in this building is lit up the most?”

“The infirmary.” Felicity answered.

Bruce nodded. “Grab all of the strongest lights you can and get all of the furniture out of that room. I’ll distract him until you’re ready and then we’ll light him up.”

Felicity nodded. She paused awkwardly before grabbing Batman’s arm and staring up at him, eyes hard. “If you die here, I win the petty-off. And I know how much you hate it when I win.”

Bruce blinked at her in surprise before his signature Batsmirk™ quirked one corner of his mouth up. “Be careful.”

(She was still mad at him.)

*

The final confrontation with the Shadow Thief was before Felicity had given Bats the word, but she was ready enough. Thinking that the Shadow Thief had found an unsuspecting geek, he’d grabbed Felicity into a headlock, dragging her in between him and Batman to act as a human shield and _thank god _Sara had convinced Felicity into Gideon in this room because the satisfaction from yelling at the AI to light up the room and it actually happening was...well…__

__It’s already been established that Felicity is a petty creature, okay?_ _

__While the Shadow Thief was weakened by the lack of shadows around him and cut off guard by the lights, Felicity flipped him over her shoulder and pinned him to the ground for long enough to land a solid punch on his nose, knocking him out._ _

__She slumped over next to his unconscious body and breathed hard--taking down a Shadow Thief and moving all of the furniture out of a picture large and packed room took a lot of energy, okay? Felicity looked up at Bruce who was also breathing heavily through what Felicity was sure was a broken nose._ _

__“So,” She started, “How the fuck are we supposed to contain someone who can turn into a _shadow_?”_ _

__Bruce laughed between wheezes. “I think- I think it’s a suit and some tech. Call Barry, have him run Cisco over.”_ _

__Felicity nodded and checked her phone. “Well, it looks like our shift is over.”_ _

__“There is a god,” Bruce deadpanned, earning a snort from Felicity._ _

__They stayed with the thief together, waiting for Barry and Cisco to show. At the sight of the two Central City vigilantes, Felicity breathed a sigh of relief. “Alrighty, this is yours. I have a date with a hot bath and a bottle of red wine. B, I texted the Beagle that you have a broken nose so don’t even think about ignoring it. Flash, I’m gonna junk punch you the next time I see you for making me put up with this, but I don’t have the energy to do it tonight.”_ _

__Bruce rolled his eyes and Barry had the sense to look sheepish now that his blatant matchmaking scam had come to light. Cisco laughed and hugged Felicity goodnight before all three men watched her leave._ _

__*_ _

__“I’m too tired to do this today, Sara.” Felicity sunk deeper into the warm water in her tub, the bubbles stacked above allowing her to maintain her modesty while Sara sat on her vanity, pouring two glasses of wine._ _

__“Come on, I just have to know what this means!” Sara exclaimed, handing one glass to Felicity and ignoring her mixed expression of gratitude and exasperation. “Are Mom and Dad still fighting?”_ _

__“Yes. And, I won the petty competition.” Felicity rolled her neck, grimacing at the sound of her bones cracking._ _

__“But you almost sounded...fond when you talked about it. Like it was fun, instead of trying to piss him off.”_ _

__Felicity leveled Sara with a smirk. “Pissing off B is fun.”_ _

__“Well yeah,” Sara rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I get a kick out of that, too. But you’re moving away from the sadistic glee you usually get to the joking happy that you used to get talking about him.”_ _

__“I-” Felicity paused and took a sip of her wine contemplatively. “I’m not ready to be friends with him anymore, but to tell you the truth...today...spending time with him, the mutual pettiness, hunting down Shadow Thief...it felt like how it used to.” Felicity sighed. Again. She leaned her neck back against the fluffy washcloth she’d perched against the edge of her tub and groaned. “I still love him. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”_ _

__Sara gave Felicity an all too understanding look. “No, you’re not. You can’t control who you fall in love with.”_ _

__Felicity closed her eyes and felt a tear escape. “But he doesn’t love me back, but I’m still here. I’m just pining away. Waiting for the day he deigns to like me back.”_ _

__“That is not at all all that you’re doing, miss ma’am.” Sara nudged Felicity’s knee that was poking out of the water with her big toe. “You’re also plotting the rise and fall of a vapid snake bitch and single handedly running both a startup tech company and an organization full of stupid super heroes. Stuper heroes.”_ _

__“Supid?” Felicity suggested before shaking her head. “Maybe just cut ‘super’ out of it and call ‘em all stupid heroes.”_ _

__“Agreed.” Sara raised her class for a toast. “By the way, I was too be to keep up with the groupchat so why did I become a part of another one but ‘without that dick batman’?”_ _

__Felicity snorted and grinned up at Sara. “You just want a play-by-play of the petty, don’t you?”_ _

__“I, much like a goat climbing nearly 90 degrees for salt, crave that mineral.”_ _

__“Funny you should mention salt..."_ _


	7. Chapter 7

_Real Life Social Justice Warriors (The One With That Dick Batman):_

_**Overwatch** 1:48pm: Hey guys, has anyone seen WC? She was supposed to come in for a mission report. Waverider’s here, but I can’t find her._

_**Zatanna** 1:49pm: I only ever see her when I see you._

_**Supergirl** 1:49pm: Did something happen?_

_**Flash** 1:50pm: (ノωヽ) is sara OK??_

_**Green Arrow** 1:50pm: Flash. Codenames._

_**Flash** 1:51pm: white canary* aslo, shut up, GA (凸ಠ益ಠ)凸_

_**Overwatch** 1:53pm: Tough mission. Just, if any of you guys see her ask her to call me when she can._

*

Bruce frowned at the messages waiting for him in the groupchat that Felicity had insisted they had to keep up with. It wasn’t like Sara to fall out of contact with Felicity. Literally anyone else? Yeah, seemed pretty in line with the way she lived her life. But she and Felicity were closer than anyone else Bruce had met. Hell, when Bruce had first met White Canary, he’d almost thought that she and Felicity were dating.

Which wasn’t a far fetched thought when a) both of them were bisexual and b) Felicity literally ran and jumped into Sara’s arms while Sara held her up in the air and spun her around before putting her down and kissing her. Not a far fetched thought at all. There were “girl friendships” and then there was...whatever the hell was going on between Sara and Felicity.

(He wasn’t jealous.)

Still, as he made his way down to the Batcave that night, he reminded himself to run a few search programs to see what he could pull up. He likely wouldn’t have any more luck than Felicity, but there was a chance that Sara was only ducking Felicity and banking on the rest of them not getting involved. Felicity had already been through enough in recent months. Bruce wasn’t sure what might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but he had decided a long time ago that he wanted to stop that from happening.

(And yes, he knew that he was chief among the things that were going wrong in Felicity’s life. He wasn’t stupid or naive. He was frustratingly self aware. When one rejects Felicity Smoak and then lives with Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, and Jason Todd, they don’t get to forget it. In fact, he doesn’t think there’s been a day since in which at least one of his housemates _hasn’t_ called him an idiot.)

One thing that Bruce wasn’t expecting when he got down to the cave was to find the subject of Felicity’s anxiety perched unnaturally still on the batcomputer’s controls.

He took in her frazzled appearance, the way she seemed to be aware of everything around her and nothing, the way she wasn’t moving at all aside from the shallow dip and swell of her breath. He approached her with caution, purposefully letting her hear his footfalls so as not to startle her.

“White Canary?”

Sara dragged her eyes up to meet Bruce’s before she stood and started pacing. Bruce watched her patiently, understanding the cagey feeling of seeing too much and not knowing where to go or who to turn to, but knowing that you needed to tell someone something. He wasn’t surprised she had procured a small throwing knife to start fiddling with. He knew that it calmed her down. He wasn’t sure which one of them picked up the habit from the other, but the way she fiddled with the knife was the same way Felicity fiddled with her pens.

“I think it’s time you and I have a little talk.” Sara forced herself to stay still long enough to look Bruce in the eyes once more, her own expression a whole lot less lost now and instead fiercely protective.

Bruce nodded slowly, “Alright. What’s wrong?”

“No, not about me.” Sara gestured to her head with the hand still holding the knife and _shit,_ Felicity would have a heart attack if she ever saw that. “I don’t expect you to sort out my head for me, that’s what I have a best friend for. I’m here about _her_.”

Bruce let out a harsh breath through his nose and felt annoyance bubble up in the back of his mind. He pushed it down and met Sara’s gaze with his own unimpressed one, determined to stay as neutral as possible. He was sure that Sara wouldn’t flounder without reactionary fuel, but he was also pissed that everybody seemed to have an opinion on what was best for him, for Felicity, for him and Felicity.

Sara rolled her eyes. “I’m not here to tell you what you should do, Bruce. I’m here because you’re a fucking idiot. I’m here because I’ve been stupidly trying to convince Felicity that if she’ll just give you time, you can get your head out of your ass. I’m here to let you know that the number one person who was in your corner with her isn’t doing it anymore. Felicity’s not going to wait around anymore, do you understand me? She’s not your fucking lapdog. You’re either going to get your head out of your ass or you’re going to lose her forever.

“And don’t give me any of that ‘my life is too dangerous’ bullshit,” Sara scoffed, grip tightening on her knife as Bruce eyed her warily. “You need to fucking realize that you’re not the gritty hero who’s exposing some innocent flower to the dark underbelly of the world. Felicity has been kidnapped, shot, paralyzed, and nearly killed as much if not more than the rest of us. She is as much a hero as anyone of us, and I’ll be damned if I let your own fear mask itself as self sacrifice.”

Bruce bit down on the inside of his cheek and looked away from Sara.

“Because that’s what this is, isn’t it? You’re _scared_. The feelings that you have for Felicity are real and they aren’t going away and that scares you. You’re scared because only bad things happen to the people who you love, right? You’re scared that because you love her, you’re going to lose her. And there are a few parts of this that I have problems with. The first one is that if you did lose her--if Lex Luthor broke out of prison tonight and murdered her--would it hurt any less now that you’ve started keeping your distance from her? Do you think it would hurt her any less if you were to die tonight? And the reason that you’re losing her isn’t because you love her, it’s because you’re rejecting her. She’s not being hurt by your monsters or villains, she’d being hurt by _you_.”

Sara stopped pacing in front of Bruce. “You think you’re protecting her, but all you’re doing is hurting her.”

“Her safety matters more to me than her happiness, Sara,” Bruce practically whispered, still feeling the sting in his gut from Sara’s words.

“At what point are they different, Bruce?” She asked, eyes like daggers, staring right into his excuses and ripping them to pieces. “When has she ever not been safe with you? And how many times has she been safe while reckless and alone? Since you’ve been in her life, the only time she’s ever been hurt or near to it has been when you weren’t there for her. You had her back. You kept her safe, and she kept you safe.”

Bruce grimaced and looked away, guilt over the Sportsmaster case rolling through him, making him uneasy.

“How many times has she been safe waking up from nightmares alone? You know what that’s like, don’t you? You know the things that can through someone’s mind when they’re alone and hating themselves. She won’t talk to anyone. She won’t drag someone into her problems. She only breaks down when no one can see her.” Sara took a step closer to Bruce, anger rolling off of her in waves. “If you really wanted her to be safe, you’d stop pussyfooting around your excuses and you’d hold her in your arms and you’d never let go.”

There was a thick silence between the two of them, Sara daring him to talk, and Bruce not having any words left for his own defense. Sara nodded and turned on her heel, prowling away from him and towards the Batman armor on display. “You’re afraid, but isn’t that why you wear the suit? To control your fear? It’s astonishing to me that you’re still letting your fear control you with her.”

*

_To: *hacker voice* im in (⌐▨_▨)_

_**sorry that i disappeared. cuddle sesh?**  
10:23pm_

_To: Sass-assin (ง'̀-'́)ง( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_

_**Of course. I’m at my place in Central this week. You wanna talk about it?**  
10:26pm_

_To: *hacker voice* im in (⌐▨_▨)_

_**ye. in person.**  
10:27pm_

*

Sara arrived at Felicity’s doorstep with two boxes of cheap wine and three gallons of ice cream. Felicity bypassed both to pull Sara into a fierce hug, and that feeling was almost enough to banish the left over depression from her mission. Sara nuzzled her face into the crook of Felicity’s neck and hugged her back as much as she could for longer than polite hugs went on for. 

When they did manage to separate, they worked in silence. Putting two gallons of ice cream in the freezer, they carried the moose tracks (Sara’s favorite), two spoons, and two wine glasses into the living room. With both boxes of wine on the coffee table, two fuzzy blankets between the two of them, and a gallon of ice cream that likely wouldn’t last the night, Felicity turned on Netflix and started One Day At A Time--a show that she had promised Sara they could watch together.

Sara laid down next to Felicity on the couch, allowing the hacker to be the big spoon for once. She put the ice cream on the couch in the space behind her and cuddled into Felicity as close as she could. Felicity combed her fingers through Sara’s tangled hair, gently making sense of the rat’s nest, and would periodically feed Sara a spoonful of the ice cream because she knew that Sara wouldn’t eat when she’d get like this.

After the third episode, Felicity shifted to put the empty carton on the coffee table and silently wrapped Sara in both of her arms, letting her take whatever comfort she could.

It was another two episodes in before Felicity quietly asked if Sara would tell her what happened. The silence after the question almost made Felicity think that Sara had fallen asleep, but then she held onto Felicity tighter and nodded.

“I- I was caught in a time loop.” Sara spoke in a near whisper. “The future...it’s constantly in a state of flux. It was in the year 2027. I can’t...tell you too much of your own future--or a potential one, but you and...and Kara and Bruce were there. I was stuck in a time loop because of Epoch. It was a weapon that the time masters had thought up and he had stolen. It was- it was supposed to take you to a time with people that you love and put you in an impossible situation.

“I can’t tell you how many times I went through the loop.” Sara admitted. “I lost track. I lost track of how many scenarios there were. I remember them all, but they all bleed together at the same time. I remember the expression on your face as you’re killed by Lex Luthor, by Lena Luthor, by the Joker. I remember Lena’s scream every time Kara dies of a Kryptonite bullet from Lex or Clark or you or Bruce or Livewire. I remember the timelines that have Lena going mad over Kara’s death, I remember the ones where she didn’t. I remember you holding Bruce’s broken, bleeding body, and sobbing so loud that you couldn’t hear me yelling your name.

“The only thing that all of these loops had in common was that somehow, some way, you, Kara, and Bruce would all die.” Sara’s hands tightened around the back of Felicity’s shirt as Felicity held her, combing through her hair and rubbing her back. “It was hell.”

Felicity nodded. “How’d you get out?”

“Jax and Stein broke out of their hell first--Epoch used different weapons on all of us--and went berserk when they realized the kind of weapon used on me.” Sara chuckled. “Stein was particularly livid. Should’ve seen the way he ripped into Epoch when we had him in the brig.”

“I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t mind giving the bastard a talking to myself.” Felicity hissed, anger for Sara radiating off of her in waves.

Sara hummed, a safe feeling settling over her at Felicity’s outrage. “I’m supposed to be asking for your help determining who Epoch is underneath all of his ‘lord of time’ bullshit.”

“I will gladly help,” Felicity kissed Sara’s forehead. “As soon as you stop shaking. I’m here. Kara’s safe. Bruce is safe. We’re all okay. Do you want me to call them over? Have them here for some movies?”

Sara snuggled closer into Felicity, a slight blush on her cheeks as she nodded. As much as she was always the advocate for everyone else to take whatever comfort they needed, she was still completely unused to the idea of having multiple teams that would drop everything to help her.

It was nice, to say the least.

*

Felicity sent Sara to change out of her crime fighting outfit and into a pair of sweats while she made calls to both Bruce and Kara. The first was the easy one.

“Hello?” Kara's sunshiney voice brought a smile to Felicity’s face as she answered her phone.

“Hey, Kara, how busy are you tonight?” Felicity asked.

“Not at all,” Felicity could hear Kara shuffling on the other end of the line. “Did you find Sara? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, she just- she had a tough mission. She needs to be with people, you know?”

Sara hummed understandingly. “I’ll be right over. Where are-”

“Central City apartment.”

“Alright. I’ll be there soon. Will it just be the three of us?”

Felicity shook her head as she answered, “No. She needs to see Bruce, too.”

There was a pause. “How are you gonna be with that?”

Felicity didn’t answer. “The balcony door’s unlocked.” She spoke in a slightly more clipped tone than usual and hung up. Guilt immediately made her fingertips itch with the urge to apologize. She didn’t mean to be so short with Kara. She knew that Kara only wanted to help, but…

But Felicity didn’t really know how to be around Bruce anymore, and she didn’t know how that made her feel.

Shaking her head, Felicity dialed Bruce’s number. Whatever her problems were, whatever she was hung up on, it could never be big enough to make her put those feelings ahead of her best friend’s well being.


	8. Chapter 8

The ringing between pressing the call button and hearing Bruce’s voice was both an eternity in purgatory and a blissful reprise for Felicity. A reprise that was broken by a gruff voice that was once a comfort. “Felicity?”

Felicity swallowed thickly, her throat suddenly dry. “Hey.”

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Bruce asked, concern seeping into his tone like water into cracks in a foundation.

“I’m fine, it’s just-” Felicity sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s- Sara had a bad mission. She was stuck in a time loop. She- she watched us die, you, Kara, me--all of us. She’s shaken up, and I need you here to be a reminder that we’re all, you know, alive.”

Bruce let out a little breath--Felicity knew it was a sympathetic sigh, not an annoyed one. “I’ll be there. You’re in Central this week, right?”

“I- yeah,” Felicity smiled a little painfully, the reminder that Bruce still listened to her wasn’t unwelcome. “Text me when you get here, I’ll let you up.”

“Hey,” Bruce started just as Felicity went to hang up.

She pressed the phone back to her cheek, “Yeah?”

“Sara’s not the only one who’s shaken up, is she?” Bruce asked, that softening in his voice that always tugged at her heart. “How are you doing?”

Felicity breathed out slowly, jumping at least three feet into the air when the thud of Kara landing on the balcony caught her off guard. “Jesus! Fuck, sorry, B, Kara just got here and _scared the shit outta me_!”

“Sorry!” Kara called out as she walked in. “Sorry, I got a little too over enthusiastic. That Bruce on the phone?”

“Yeah,” Felicity nodded.

“He coming?”

“I’ll be over soon,” Bruce promised before the other end of the line disconnected.

*

Kara settled in with Sara and restarted One Day at a Time so that they could both really watch it while Felicity waited anxiously for Bruce to arrive. Part of her hated the fact that even though she’d spoken with him over the phone, she couldn’t calm her frayed nerves until she’d seen him in person. The same part hated that the nerves that she knew he could calm weren’t just the ones that were fried by Sara’s experience of his death, but the entire conundrum of the time loop.

Felicity had set aside the part of her brain processing the emotional implications of what Sara had said aside from the ones that were weighing down Sara at the moment. But the more she thought about it, the more goosebumps raised on her arms and that stifling loneliness that had filled her in the hotel room after she’d left Veronica returned.

It was almost a blessing when Bruce knocked--she knew it was him without looking because of course they had a knock. They were paranoid superheroes, not animals. She took a deep breath, buried the processing part of her overused and exhausted brain, and opened the damn door. At one point in time, she would’ve entertained her urge to pull Bruce into a hug. Things were too weird between them now to do that, so instead they settled on silent head nods as Felicity stepped out into the hallway to discuss.

“How are you holding up?” Bruce asked in an almost gentle tone of voice that pierced Felicity’s carefully constructed walls around her heart. _Build a wall for security, my ass. Flimsiest shit in the galaxy._

Felicity shrugged because she knew that she couldn’t lie to him. “I’m holding up. That is what’s important right now.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek absentmindedly, her tongue tracing over scars that proved how the mindless habit had marked her. “Listen, I know things are weird and petty between us right now for a lot of very good and very bad reasons, but how about--for now, in there--we leave all of this nastiness in this hallway?”

“A truce it is,” Bruce held out his hand for a shake and didn’t comment on the tremors in Felicity’s. “You can keep hating me after tonight, if you want.”

“I might, but tonight isn’t about me.” She shook her head, her hand wrapping around the doorknob as she prepared to lead him into her Central City apartment. “It’s about making sure that Sara’s okay.”

“I understand,” He nodded and once again refrained from comment on how the main reason he was here was how shaken up Felicity had sounded over the phone. 

She led him into the living room where Sara and Kara were snuggled up together on the couch and reclaimed her seat on the other side. She spread out her legs next to Sara and Kara’s and watched as Bruce settled on the floor in front of her.

“Hey, Bats.” Kara smiled gently at Bruce, using her foot to poke at his shoulder. Bruce bit back the urge to roll his eyes and grabbed her foot. “You seen this show yet?”

“I hear good things from Tim.” Bruce acknowledged. “I haven’t had the time to sit and watch it for a while. What’s the concensus?”

“It’s great. This episode is talking about feminism.” The chattering seemed to calm down both Felicity and Sara as they sat quietly and listened.

Bruce smiled and leaned his head back against the couch. “Is it handled well?”

Sara poked Bruce’s shoulder with her toe. “It’s great. Calls out sneaky sexism and the pay gap.”

“I feel that.” Felicity sighed and adjusted in the way that Bruce knew was out of discomfort from the chip in her back. He bit back the concern and flicked Sara’s foot.

“Stop putting your feet on me,” Bruce leveled a Batglare at the two blondes who kept messing with him.

“Keep putting your feet on him.” Felicity mock whispered. “His bark is worse than his bite.”

Sara snickered. “Wow, harsh much?”

Felicity nudged Sara’s leg with her foot, starting a leg-based wrestling match that lasted until Kara dragged Bruce up onto the couch and put both herself and Bruce between them. Sara rolled her eyes and scoffed. 

“You think this will stop us?”

“I think between the bat and me, we can at least contain you.” Kara stated confidently before she was met by one pair of doubtful blue eyes and two pairs of blue eyes giddy to test that theory. “Please, Rao, just watch the flipping show.”

“Don’t worry Kara, we both think you’re too cute to rebel too heavily.” Felicity smiled at Kara.

“How come you never look at me like that?” Sara groused.

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Because you’re open season 24/7 and Kara is unobtainable. I only want what I can’t have.”

Kara and Sara both studiously kept their eyes away from Bruce.

*

Kara went home after they made sure that Sara was sleeping soundly for at least a few hours. Once she had left, Felicity started cleaning up the dishes from the night. She stayed quiet while Bruce sat at the counter with a mug of coffee to watch her wearily.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bruce asked quietly, earning a cautious look from Felicity. “Truce, remember? We’ll keep all of the hatred outside. For right now, you’ve been looking at those dishes like they can solve your problems.”

Felicity looked between the bowl in her hand to the look on Bruce’s face before turning off the water and putting the bowl back in the sink. She grabbed the hand towel on the cabinet and wiped her hands clean of the soapy water. She looked down at her chipped nail polish, absentmindedly realizing that she needed to touch it up in her attempt to put off the inevitable.

Looking up to Bruce’s patient expression forced the words out of her.

“I’ve just been thinking about what Sara said about Kara and Lena. It’s just that...they’re the most solid couple couple I know. They both have spent...so long honing their instincts to be _good_ , but they still love each other so much. And maybe...maybe you’re right about people in our line of work falling in love. I don’t know, but maybe you’re right that the best things for all of us to do is to- to stay alone. Love might be...too much to risk.”

Bruce looked down from Felicity’s face into his coffee cup and sighed a little bit, a wry smile on his face. He wondered, distantly, if they’d ever be on the same page. “It’s interesting how different people can interpret things.”

Felicity stared at Bruce in confusion.

“Sara came to see me earlier.” Bruce told her. “She told me that I needed to confess to you as soon as possible because you never know if you’ll have tomorrow and...and that whether or not I tell you that I love you, it won’t change how I feel. It will only make both of us suffer when we could be happy.”

Bruce shifted his gaze to look Felicity in her eyes--wide with fear and hope. “So...I guess the question is...who do you agree with?”

“Well, I like to think that when I’m not the smartest person in the room, I’m smart enough to figure out who is.” Bruce raised his shoulders as he tensed. “And when it comes to life experience...I think maybe Sara has both of us beat there.”

Felicity felt frozen at what Bruce was saying--and leaving unsaid. “So what does that mean?”

“It means that we should...talk.” Bruce grimaced a bit at the sound of that. “But not tonight.”

“Why? To give you time to change your mind again?” 

“No,” Bruce winced slightly. “No, because your day has been a whirlwind of stress and relief and emotions that do nothing if not cloud your judgement and when we start something--” he leaned closer towards her, “--and we will start something--it will be with both of our heads clear and nothing to second guess.”

She stared at him for a beat before looking down and nodding. “So, how long are you going to ghost me this time?”

Bruce pursed his lips and reached forward to grab her hand. “I’m not ghosting.”

“So you say now,” Felicity responded. “What happens when I’m done thinking and you don’t pick up your phone?”

“I call you back as soon as I can and we...have coffee.” Bruce answered.

Felicity let out a breath and leaned against the counter, processing everything that Bruce had said. “So I just need to- to call you once I’ve made my decision?” Bruce nodded. “This suddenly got so much easier and harder at the same time. Why is it all my decision? Shouldn’t it be something we have to talk about together and come up with an answer together? This relationship wouldn’t just be me or you, it’d be both of us and in the spirit of cooperation--”

“Because I’m worried that if we talk it out together without both of us previously deciding what we want, I’ll pressure you into something that you haven’t considered all of the angles of.” Bruce tried to stay calm, reminding himself that he wanted to do this the right way.

“You’re afraid I’m gonna do to you what you did to me, so you’re giving me an out.” Felicity realized. “You’re afraid that I’ll get caught up in the moment and tell you one thing and then I’ll over think everything and talk myself out of it.”

Bruce ducked his head, the swirls of creamer in his coffee suddenly a lot more interesting.

“How about we don’t start with anything too heavy?” Felicity tried to stop herself from smiling too widely. “Coffee sounds fun.”

Bruce stared at Felicity’s carefully, cautiously happy expression for a beat before nodding. “Coffee. Are you free tomorrow?”

Felicity closed her eyes and groaned. “No, I have monitor duty. Tuesday?”

“March 14, pi day.” Bruce pursed his lips. “Calendar Man is currently out of Arkham, I’m on call.”

“Wednesday is filled with meetings, and Thursday is the League check-in.” Felicity sighed. “I’m free Friday?”

“Friday. I’ll make time.” Bruce spoke definitively as he stood. “It’s getting late, I should probably get back to Gotham.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Felicity walked with him to the door. They paused and took a moment to actually realize what they’d agreed on. “Is this actually happening?”

Bruce huffed out a quiet chuckle. “I guess we’ll see on Friday.”

Felicity smiled and leaned up to kiss Bruce’s cheek. “I’m glad that you’re okay.” 

After Bruce left, Felicity leaned against the door and scrubbed her hands down her face. “Sara!”

 

Sara peeked her head out of the living room, the widest smile that Felicity had seen in the past twelve hours on her face. “Did he take my advice? Did he ask you out? Are you livin’ like Larry now?”

“Yes, yes, no.” Felicity answered. “Stop eavesdropping on me and how the fuck am I going to get through this week without freaking out?”

“My dating history includes a tryst with my sister’s boyfriend to prove a point, a serious long-term semi-toxic relationship with an assassin, becoming the Lancelot from legend who split up King Arthur and Guinevere, and flirting with a thief before he martyred himself, so maybe my romantic advice isn’t the best.” Sara deadpanned.

“You’re useless to me.” Felicity groaned.

Sara’s lips pulled into a wide smile. “You should wear the slut skirt.”

“Sara, no.” Felicity’s eyes widened.

“Sara, yes.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the thrilling conclusion minus the epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao okay so I accidentally only posted a blurb earlier so this is the real, complete 9th chapter
> 
> also this had been finished for a while, but I forgot about it, so that's my b

“I’m going to fucking call Lena if you do not get your head out of your ass anytime soon,” Sara groaned from Felicity’s bed, where she was laying with Zatanna and Kara sitting next to her, watching Felicity buzzing around in her underwear.

“Please do, I wanna meet the lady Kara won’t shut up about.” Zatanna nudged the alien.

Felicity huffed and roughly put a sundress back into her closet. “I didn’t invite you people over!”

“We just wanna help you!” Zatanna grinned, taking a swig of red wine straight from the bottle. “I feel like I’m emotionally involved in this because your romantic angst bullshit was tied into our first case.”

“Oh! The League’s first, too!” Kara pointed out with a lopsided grin on her face. “The first official mission Kal and I were on was saving Felicity from Lex!”

Sara reached out and threw a tight black leather skirt at Felicity. “Wear the slut skirt!”

Felicity jolted when the cooled leather hit her shoulder and angrily turned around to chunk the skirt at Sara with as much force as possible. “Stop throwing the damn skirt at me and get out of my apartment!”

“Fucking Christ, get Lena over here,” Sara rolled her eyes and turned to look up at Zatanna. “You agree with me about the skirt, right?”

“Mmm...might be a little much for coffee,” Zatanna moved her head back and forth before looking at Felicity’s legs. “Depends on how much leg it takes to get Bruce back to this apartment.”

Sara snorted as Felicity turned bright red. “It’s not like that! We’re not...we’re taking it slow! And I didn’t ask the fucking peanut gallery!”

“Felicity, you know we’re only here because we want to see you happy, right?” Kara leaned forward to grab Felicity’s hand and smile up at her. “We’re rooting for you, so we want to be here to cheer you on. You’re our friend--our family. We only want you to be happy. I’m sorry if we might go overboard but...it’s only because we’re excited to see you and Bruce both smiling again.”

Felicity melted, returning Kara’s smile and squeezing her hand before Sara opened her stupid fucking mouth.

“Also, I wanted to get an eyeful of underwear with binary on ‘em and I promised Z that we could take full advantage of your apartment for a girls night while you abandon us for your useless heterosexual romance.”

“And she ruined it.” Felicity’s smile fell. “I have two hours to pick out an outfit and do makeup so someone call the helpful people--Thea, Lena, and Iris--or I’m kicking everyone except Kara out.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe Mom has such obvious favorites,” Zatanna whined as Sara pulled out her phone to call Thea and Kara got Lena up on FaceTime. Zatanna obediently grabbed Felicity’s phone--attached to the IV of her charger because she was paranoid about about anywhere with less than 80% battery--and sent a text out to Iris. 

Sara hummed unhappily. “Thea is going onto a plane. She sends kisses emojis and sad face emojis.”

Felicity sighed. “Tell her it’s fine and I swear to god, Sara, if you take a picture of me right now, I’ll murder you.”

Sara sighed and flopped back down onto the bed, muttering to herself.

“Iris says that she’s in a meeting right now and will Skype you if she’s done in the next two hours, but until then send her a picture of options and she’ll yay or nay.” Zatanna reported. “Also, why does Kara get to be the favorite? Is it a blonde thing?”

“No, it’s the personification of a golden retriever puppy who was running around a lot and now has one ear flipped inside out thing.” Felicity pulled out a flowy white shirt. “This tucked into mid-rise skinny jeans?”

 _“Yes to the skinny jeans, no to the shirt. Going to a coffee shop with that shirt is asking for a latte stain that will not come out.”_ Lena’s voice rang out from Kara’s voice. _“Sorry for not giving you a greeting, but I needed to stop you before you hurt that shirt.”_

“You raise good points,” Felicity shrugged. “I don’t even know why I own white.”

“Because you’re so innocent.” Zatanna quipped before high fiving with Sara. “Nice to meet’cha Lena, I’m Zatanna Zatara, the other brunette in this girl gang of blondes.”

Sara rolled her eyes grumbled about no longer being blonde, her hot pink hair still smelling slightly of the dye.

Lena smiled at where Zatanna popped in front of the screen to ‘meet’ her. _“Happy to no longer be the only one. Felicity, do you want me to go over there? I know where the zeta tubes are and this girls night looks like it might need some...adult supervision.”_

“Ah, so you saw Sara.” Felicity laughed.

“Screw you, Luthor, I’m completely capable of being a responsible adult!” Sara puffed out her cheeks as she whined, crossing her arms over her chest in a way that made her look and feel totally mature.

Lena raised one perfectly coiffed eyebrow at Sara. _“Yes, Lance, you’re the pink haired poster child for maturity. And I say that you need supervision because every time you get drunk, you ask my girlfriend to sleep with you.”_

“Hey! Last time I extended the invitation to both of you!” Sara rolled her eyes. “Your boobs and her abs are too good to not lust after.”

“She is right,” Kara mused quietly.

“Keep it in your pants! No one is getting laid here tonight!” Felicity shot Sara and Lena both an admonishing glare, trying to stop any potential three-way before it started.

Zatanna snickered, “No one except for Bruce, hey-o!”

Sara high fived her again.

Lena laughed and shook her head. “I’ll be over there in ten minutes to help. Do you want me to grab my makeup to help?”

“I’m not gonna go crazy with the makeup, so let’s keep it within my collection.” Felicity smiled gratefully at her little sister. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Damn right.” Lena smiled dazzling up at her before ending the call. 

*

“Your girlfriend is the moon,” Sara sighed dreamily as she leaned on Lena’s shoulder. After Lena had gotten there, Sara had taken it as permission to get as fucked up as possible. (Also she challenged Zatanna to a drinking game of truth or dare and asked Iris and Rip for nudes without receiving any dare to do so. Both ignored her.)

Sara was practically crawling into Lena’s lap, much to the unhappiness of a certain Kryptonian, until Zatanna had actually sat down behind Sara and curled around her like a human backpack to ‘keep her out of the laps of those in monogamous relationships’. Now, it seemed that Sara had enough drinks to move passed Flirty Drunk and into Meme Drunk. Felicity was almost sad that she’d have to leave soon.

“Explain,” Lena snorted whilst sipping on some orange juice. Felicity held up a blue skater skirt with little white anchors covering it. Lena hummed and gestured a little ‘maybe’.

“She’s pretty and gay.” Sara answered before dissolving into giggles.

“The moon is gay?” Zatanna asked.

Felicity cocked her head to the side and considered the black skinny jeans in front of her. “Well, according to Greek mythology, the goddess who controls the moon is an asexual girl in a gang of other asexual girls so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that she’s homoromantic.”

Kara joined Sara in the giggling. “Goals, honestly.”

“What do you think of,” Felicity started as she grabbed a few hangars. “Black skinny, blue leather jacket layered over white hoodie layered over fitted grey t-shirt with witty saying on it?”

“‘Ask me about my feminist agenda’,” Zatanna read and snorted. “I love it.”

“Looks good, but drop the hoodie.” Lena advised. “Don’t you have a yellow bat necklace?”

Kara squealed with glee, “Oh my god! That would look great with this!”

Felicity huffed out a laugh and nodded. “Fine, fine, I’ll wear the bat necklace.” She put on the outfit and looked over her shoe hotel. “Now...what shoes?”

“Do those blue ankle boots with the chunky heel and keep your white ballet flats in your purse just in case.” Zatanna advised, earning an impressed look from both Felicity and Lena. “And leave your hair down like that, it dried really nicely.”

Felicity nodded and grabbed the shoes just as the alarm on her phone went off. “Okay,” She breathed out, turning the alarm off. “I’ve got 45 minutes to do makeup and then I’m leaving my apartment in your hands. Do not destroy the place.”

“Set it on fire, flood it, eat all of your snacks, and leave your ice cream on the counter to melt. Got it!” Sara rattled off before another giggling fit overtook her.

Felicity winced and pointed at Sara. “Someone should always be watching her.”

“Do your makeup, I’ll watch them.” Lena stood from the bed and basically herded Felicity into her bathroom. She waited until they were out of eyeshot to tug on Felicity’s jacket and get her attention. “Hey, what are you thinking right now?”

“I’m trying very hard not to freak out right now.” The blonde answered. “I mean this is...the start of something.”

“Is it something that you’re sure you want to start?” Lena asked. “Because it doesn’t seem like something that you can stop without getting hurt.”

Felicity cocked her head and smiled a little bit, thinking about how flustered and awkward she and Bruce had both acted at the JLA meeting earlier that week. “I think that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

They smiled at each other for a beat before Lena pulled Felicity into a tight hug. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

“Thanks, Lena.” Felicity melted a little bit at that. She playfully nudged Lena away after a few seconds had passed. “Now go babysit. Call Iris and Cait if you have any problems. Amaya could probably handle Sara if she gets too rambunctious and I know for a fact that Lyla is just waiting for a reason to ditch Digg this weekend. And if they get to be too much while I’m gone all you need to do is--”

“Felicity!” Lena laughed, rolling her eyes. “You are not their mother! I will handle our friends. You just go have a nice time. If he’s smart enough to know to hold onto what he wants, you won’t even need to be back here tonight.”

Felicity turned bright red against and level a stern glare at Lena. “New rule: no discussing my sex life.”

Still laughing, Lena didn’t even bother to respond to that before turning back to the where the party was getting started in the middle of a goofy ray of sunshine, the equivalent of a drunk forest fire, and the oil tanker nearby just asking to make a spark into an explosion. Felicity sighed to herself, realizing that she’d be lucky if this apartment survived the night.

She then smiled, realizing that given the little family that she’d collected...she didn’t really care.

*

They had agreed to meet at the coffee shop because Bruce was coming from WE and Felicity had League business scheduled before Clark had shown up begging for a reason to get off world. Apparently he was getting antsy or whatever. (Being at the Hall of Justice was how Felicity got followed home by a pack of super puppies and allowed a few hours of her evening to talk with her female friends, which was always nice.) They had agreed to meet in Metropolis because Bruce didn’t want to make Felicity come to Gotham alone.

( _To: Bat Dad ˚✧₊⁎( ˘ω˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚_

_**Is this over protectiveness sexism or general stupidity?**  
4:29pm_

_To: Felicity Smoak_

_**I don’t even like it when Tim goes out there alone.**  
4:29pm_

_To: Bat Dad˚✧₊⁎( ˘ω˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚_

_**Are you implying that I don’t know how to defend myself as well as a teenage boy?? ε-(‘ﾍ´○)┓**  
4:31pm_

_To: Felicity Smoak_

_**1\. I don’t know what that means. 2. Crime stats show that adult women are more likely to be victims of a violent crime than teenage boys.**  
4:32pm_

_**Just let me have this one, Felicity, please.**  
4:33pm_

_To: Bat Dad˚✧₊⁎( ˘ω˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚_

_**Fine, I guess this date just isn’t gonna go as well as I thought it would if you don’t want us at least _nearby_ Gotham (n˘v˘•)¬**  
4:34pm_

_**Bruce?**  
4:40pm_

_To: Felicity Smoak_

_**You make it hard to be nice to you.**_  
4:58pm)

Felicity checked her phone when she got there--fashionably late? More like anxiously early--and realized she’d have to kill a few minutes before Bruce was supposed to get there. Looking around the small shop, though, she found him fiddling with his phone at a small, circular table in what was basically a secluded little nook in the shop. She smiled to herself at the small displays of nerves from him: fidgeting and earliness.

Deciding to have a little fun, Felicity waited behind an older middle aged man getting a danish to talk to the college student behind the register. She placed her order with the kid and looked over her shoulder at Bruce. “Has that man in the nook over there already ordered?”

“No, he said that he was waiting for someone.” The kid called over their shoulder as they made Felicity’s frappe. “You the someone?”

“Yeah. Give me a large iced Americano for him.” Felicity smiled shyly at the look the kid gave her. The kid shrugged and moved back to the register to tap in the additions to the order--Felicity quietly slipped a few more notes into the tips jaw after she paid for both coffees and a couple of chocolate croissants.

Bruce looked up at her the minute she started walking towards him and the smile on his face almost made her trip.

“Here I thought you were late,” He deadpanned, standing to help her with the drinks while she set the croissants on the table. “Instead you were finding a way to make sure I didn’t pay. By ambushing me with sweets.”

“You make it so hard to be nice to you.” Felicity echoed his text to his face. She shrugged out of her jacket as Bruce set the coffees down. She grabbed the sleeve of his henley and pulled him down towards her enough to press her lips to his cheek. “Nice to see you, too, Bruce.”

“It’s always nice to see you, Felicity.” Bruce smiled down at her with that Serious and Serious Smile™ and she swore she could’ve honest to gods swooned. Bruce rested his hand on her waist and bent down to place a chaste kiss on Felicity’s cheek in return. 

Felicity swayed into his chest and batted her eyelashes, “Mmm...even when I signed your e-mail up for all of those online magazine subscriptions?”

“I knew that was you,” Bruce narrowed his eyes, but Felicity could see the smile at the corner of his eyes. “Alfred said you wouldn’t go that far.”

Felicity raised her eyebrows, “And you knew that I could?”

Bruce leaned in closer, their noses basically touching as he spoke. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, Smoak, it’s that I’m sure you _can_ do most anything.”

“Oh?” Felicity snorted and moved away to sit down, Bruce following her lead opposite of her. “I think you’re biased.”

“Only because I’ve seen you stand up to the universe’s most corrupt, morally apprehensible, and intellectually challenging problems without a blink of the eye. You’ve yelled at three Ra’s Al Ghul’s, personally challenged Lex Luthor, went one on five with Intergang during a hostage scenario, disassembled an international human trafficking ring and then drug one the runners through the full media experience because you were feeling vicious, and body slammed a corporeal shadow into the ground.” Bruce leveled a disbelieving look at her. “I don’t need to be in love with you to know that you’re incredible.”

Felicity blinked up at him, waiting for him to realize his slip of the tongue, but realization and regret never showed on his expressions, only distant anxiety. He knew what he had said. He...he loved her.

“You don’t need to say it--” Bruce started, but Felicity cut him off with a look.

“I want to say it.” She told him honestly. “I just...had it all planned.”

Bruce seemed to buffer in surprise before starting forward. “You thought about it?”

“Bruce, I’ve been in love with you for about a year,” Felicity deadpanned. “Of course I’ve thought about how I was gonna tell you. What? You think my anxiety decided, ‘oh I’ve made the rest of her life miserable, might as well give her a break with this guy?’”

They smiled at each other, the rest of the world seeming to slip away before Bruce’s eyes flickered down to the necklace and a wider, more mischievous smile took over. He opened his mouth to say something before chuckling and shaking his head.

“What’s the matter? Bat got your tongue?” Felicity asked, wicked grin in place as she sipped her coffee.

Bruce laughed. “I love you.”

Well, Felicity didn’t need any use of her heart anyway. Or her eyes, because Lord knows she was blinded by that smile. “I love you, too, you goober.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *finger guns*
> 
> next up: the JLA's unveiling of the Watchtower


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> snippets of Felicity and Bruce and the group chat

_Real Life Social Justice Warriors (The One With Those Dicks Batman And Ew-rrow):_

_**Zatanna** 1:29am: WHAT’S THE OVER UNDER THAT THE BAT IS IN ONE OF FELICITY’S CAVES RIGHT NOW HEY-O!!!_

_**White Canary** 1:30am: OMG YES. I GOT 20 ON IT._

_**Overwatch** 1:30am: Stop._

_**Green Arrow** 1:31am: I have never wanted to be out of this entire league more than I do at this moment right now._

_**Flash** 1:31am: omg sara z did they fu cking actually d o the do???_

_**Overwatch** 1:32am: NO_

_**Supergirl** 1:33am: Really?? Because you’re not baaaccckkk yeeetttt!!!_

_**White Canary** 1:33am: they totes did bar_

_**White Canary** 1:33am: oooooohhhhh she got quiet_

_**Green Arrow** 1:34am: I’m just trying to SLEEP_

_**Green Arrow** 1:35am: She’s probably busy._

_**Zatanna** 1:36am: MORE LIKE BATMAN’S KEEPING HER BUSY HEY-O!!!_

_**Spartan** 1:36am: You say you’re at Felicity’s apartment? All three of you? Without supervision?_

_**Supergirl** 1:37am: Lena was here but she fell asleep._

_**Spartan** 1:38am: I’m sending Lyla on over._

_**Overwatch** 1:39am: I AM ON A WALK AND I AM TRYING NOT TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS RIGHT NOW._

_**Overwatch** 1:39am: Thank you, Spartan, but I’m on my way back now._

_**Zatanna** 1:40am: OMG did we just cockblock batman??_

_**Overwatch** 1:41am: I hate all of you. Except for you, Spartan. You’re a blessing to be around._

*

“You know what we need? An assistant. That’s what we need,” Sara breathed out, tossing another paper file onto the table. Felicity raised her eyebrows at Sara, but didn’t say anything. The heavy silence was kept by both the hacker and her new date mate, who was enacted a very similar silence treatment.

Barry whined a little bit and stretched out over the table to look up at Felicity pleadingly, “Felicity, sunshine, my best friend in the world--” Kara let out a little offended noise-- “I am so sorry for whatever is it that we did--”

“We didn’t do anything wrong!” Zatanna threw her hands in the air. Kara looked over at her and cut her hand across her neck, miming for Zatanna to stop. “It was just a little teasing!”

Felicity looked up from her file and stared straight at Zatanna until the other woman’s face morphed from righteous indignation to caution to shame. Once Zatanna looked away first, Felicity looked back at her file without saying a word. The only change to either silent parties was a slight uptilt to Bruce’s lips. A tiny smirk that meant that Bruce was proud of the intimidation.

“Felicity, I’m sorry!” Kara broke for the sixth time since they started the meeting forty minutes ago. “I’m sorry, they just- they broke out the alien alcohol and--”

Bruce and Felicity both ignored her again.

Sara scoffed and shook her head. “I like it better when mom and dad are fighting than when they’re teaming up against us.”

“I’m sorry!” Barry started tugging on Bruce’s cape. “I’m sorry, Bats, I’m sorry!”

Sara sighed and looked between Barry and Kara’s tearful faces, “Okay, fine! Fine! I’m sorry! I had too much to drink and goated everyone else into it.” She looked over her shoulder and glared at Zatanna until she broke.

“I’m sorry, too.” Zatanna mumbled.

Bruce and Felicity looked at each other for a beat before nodding. Bruce turned in his chair to face them. “Whatever Felicity and I do in our free time is private, whether we’re together or not.”

“We don’t appreciate the way you decided that we were entertainment. We understand where you’re coming from, and we’re not angry, just disappointed. I wanted to believe that you were better than the juvenile stunt you pulled, but I guess I was wrong.” Felicity leaned back in her chair and looked that all in the eyes as she continued. “From this point on, we just want to ask you as your friends to please give us privacy. Something that we didn’t have to ask literally anybody else.”

Kara and Barry looked about ready to beg their way back onto their friends’ good sides, but Sara’s eyes narrowed.

“Fuck, you’re messing with us, aren’t you?” Sara asked.

Felicity smirked and raised an eyebrow at her best friend. “Am I?”

“When did you get good at lying!?” Sara practically shouted and looked at Bruce, who was stone faced as always.

“And that, my friends,” Felicity started as she stood. “Is what teasing looks like.”

Bruce covered up his smirk, but held out his hand to respond to Felicity’s highfive.

*

_Overwatch And Her Bitches_

_**Batman** 2:19pm: Who’s on tower duty at the moment?_

_**Overwatch** 2:19pm: Me and Barry, why? What’s up?_

_**Flash** 2:20pm: me and i accidentally grabbed liss’s coffee and oh boy caffeine is great i can’t be lieve ia ever gave it uupppppp_

_**Overwatch** 2:20pm: Ignore him. What’s up?_

_**Batman** 2:21pm: I need a background check. Victor Fries._

_**Flash** 2:21pm: FREnch FRIIESSSS I WANT SOME FRENCH FRIED omgS FREN CH FR I E S YAS_

_**Overwatch** 2:22pm: I’ll start compiling the info and share the file._

_**Batman** 2:38pm: Got it. Thanks._

_**Batman** 2:39pm: Is Flash okay?_

_**Overwatch** 2:40pm: [IMAGE.jpeg.09134]_

_**Overwatch** 2:40pm: Aw, Bats! You do care! Just a little caffeine crash. He’ll wake up soon._

_**White Canary** 2:43pm: y does he hav a sharpee stache?_

_**Overwatch** 2:43pm: Revenge._

*

“Waller,” Felicity didn’t look up from her phone as she stood in front of the hall that Barry had told them all to meet in at the beginning of the week. A week that was the week from hell. Alien invasions, time travel, interdimensional doppelgangers, corrupt government agencies--you understand.

“Smoak,” Amanda scowled at her and waited until the blonde finally sighed at gave her an annoyed look. “I hear you got into some fun with some of my coworkers. You painted a target on your back.”

Felicity raised her eyebrows at her. “Then if I were you, I’d stand back. Not everybody has Oliver’s aim.”

“Or Wayne’s focus,” Waller shot back. “I have a deal for you.”

“I’m not interested in any deal with you.”

Amanda hummed, “If that’s how you want to play it, then I’m afraid I’ve been charged with the responsibility of letting you know that your vigilante friends will need to apologize to the FBI director or they _will_ make your little League into a terrorist organization.”

“Interesting, I thought that was under the jurisdiction of homeland security,” Felicity tilted her head to the side and lightened her tone. “Of course, if your feds got their acts together and actually kept this country and this world safe, we’d be happy to retire.”

Waller let out a humorless chuckle. “The FBI director just wants to--”

“I’ll lecture my friends on my time, thank you very much.” Felicity cut off Amanda. “Now, I’ve had a long week cleaning up your mess, so either wrap this up, or make a damn appointment with my assistant.”

*

_**White Canary** changed the Group Name to: That Badass Overwatch And Her Back-Up Vigilantes_

_**Flash** 7:13pm: wat’d felcity do thsi time?_

_**Overwatch** 7:14pm: Nothing, Barry. Get some rest._

_**White Canary** 7:14pm: she told off that bitch amy walker_

_**Batman** 7:15pm: Amanda Waller?_

_**Spartan** 7:15pm: Is that why Lyla said Waller was so angry when she got back from her lunch today?_

_**Overwatch** 7:16pm: I just want to sleep, you guys._

_**Green Arrow** 7:17pm: You pissed off Amanda Waller?_

_**Supergirl** 7:18pm: Who’s Amanda Waller?_

_**Spartan** 7:19pm: You ever watch Avengers?_

_**Supergirl** 7:19pm: Yes?_

_**Spartan** 7:20pm: Like Nick Fury but angrier and somehow even more morally questionable._

_**Green Arrow** 7:21pm: Not someone the League wants as an enemy._

_**Overwatch** 7:21pm: I just wanted. To sleep._

_**Spartan** 7:22pm: I’ll have Lyla talk to Waller and cool her down. Bats?_

_**Batman** 7:23pm: I’ll talk to Overwatch and try to get her to calm down after she’s slept._

_**Flash** 7:25pm: whatever he says felicity i still love u_

_**Overwatch** 7:34pm: Thanks, Bar, you’re my plan B._

_**Overwatch** 7:34pm: WAIT NO NOT LIKE THAT_

*

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Bruce asked as Felicity dozed on his chest. They were in her Central City apartment, both too exhausted to go to Gotham. Felicity sighed heavily and pushed away from him to sit up.

"Because I'm too tired to be lectured about making friends with assholes," Felicity practically whined.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "She's too powerful of an enemy to make."

"She's too cracked of a friend to make," Felicity argued. "We're supposed to be the ideal, right? We're the people who others look at when things go wrong. We're not supposed to make things worse or get into bed with the people who do. We're the ones standing up for the little guy, not the one trying to destroy an entire city to kill one individual."

"I know," Bruce wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back into his chest, not wanting an argument so much as a discussion. "I know, but we were doing well flying under her radar. Now that she knows that we won't support her, she'll be actively working against us."

Felicity settled back into his chest and sighed. "So what was I supposed to do? Sell out my people to the FBI? Hell no."

Bruce smiled to himself, that warm feeling in his chest spreading at the new information. "So you'll stare down on of the most powerful people on this planet politically speaking to keep us from getting yelled at?"

"This a surprise to you?" Felicity raised an eyebrow at him.

"No," Bruce cocked his head to the side and looked down into her eyes. "It's one of the reasons I love you."

"I love you, too." Felicity snuggled back up against his chest.

"We're talking about this in the morning."

"Sure."

"Goodnight, Felicity."

"Night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is all for now, my friends

**Author's Note:**

> Go follow me on social media:
> 
> [see wally_birb for pretty pictures](http://www.instagram.com/wally_birb/)
> 
> [see alpha-whale for snark in spades](http://www.alpha-whale.tumblr.com)


End file.
